I headed back to the track tonight for another four mile tempo run. As I made my way around for the first mile I could feel the effects of Saturday night's long run so I wasn't holding out much hope of duplicating Friday's run. I figured if I could manage 8:30 pace for 16 laps I would be plenty happy.
Mile after mile I was pleasantly surprised by my splits finishing up in 7:39 and averaging 8:10. It made me realize just how much my legs were missing runs where some speed figured in. For the past year I've been happy just to get out and slog through the miles. I had rarely tried to push the pace figuring that anything under 9 minute pace was a bonus. Tempo runs aside I'm debating whether to push my luck and incorporate two or three interval workouts into the mix before St. George.
The race is two months away. Interval work carries a lot of risk. The last thing I need right now is a pulled or strained muscle. I need to find a group that is doing reasonable intervals like the Sunflower Striders, a group I used to train with in Topeka. The intervals got me back to 7 minute pace for a 5K.
Meanwhile, the poor Czarina is suffering through a sweltering Southwest Florida summer. Tonight she did a 12 mile run, 6 outdoors, and 6 indoors on a treadmill. I don't expect that she's going to be ready for the big miles ahead. The only thing that will save her come October will be the cool weather come race time on that mountaintop in Utah.
It's treadmill time here. The heat index is anywhere from 100 to 120 degrees! It's crazy hot. I can run outside up to about 90 degrees, but this week is definitely an indoors week.
ReplyDeleteDon't get carried away!