Monday, September 20, 2010

Sunday Tempo Run: 10 miles

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous going into my Sunday long run. I took the week off the week prior, and didn't do as well as I'd hoped on my Sunday 11 mile easy run after the time off. I was sore all week, and I was worried that the time off had gotten me off track. Going into this Sunday's run, I was determined that I had to perform well, or I would doubt my abilities for the rest of the training.

This Sunday's run was a 10 mile "Steady State" workout- 2 mile warm up, 6 miles at the Steady State (tempo) pace- around 8:10-8:22 according to my schedule- and a 2 mile cool down.

I started out with the group, and started feeling anxious when we started the speed at mile 2. I felt like I was going fast, and that I wouldn't be able to sustain it. But I knew I had to or I would worry that I wouldn't do well on the half marathon in two weeks, or the marathon. So I stuck with them.

I huffed and I puffed, and I kept up with the group. The farthest behind I got was about 20 feet, and that was in the last speed mile. I kept thinking of the run in mile sections. It made it a little more bearable.

After the six miles of speed were up, I felt tired but fine doing the cool down.

Overall, the group did the 10 miles in about 1:25, at an average of 8:22 per mile (including the warm up and cool down). That is faster than my best half marathon, which I did in 8:30 per mile. I have to do about 8:26 for the marathon to qualify for Boston, so I think I am on the right track.

On the actual splits, we did around 7:50 per mile for each tempo mile. I did 8:00 on the last one, but that is close enough.

Here is our approximate route:


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