Archive for August 20th, 2008

Today was one of the scariest runs in the book, 12 w/7 tempo.  There’s been a fun and interesting discussion on RW about this particular run, a lot of controversy because the general definition of a tempo run is what you can race in 1 hour, even Pfitzinger says so a couple times in Advanced Marathoning.  So 7 miles of tempo would be really overdoing it for someone like me with a 3:40 marathon goal.

However, while he says the 1-hour thing a few times in his book, he states much more often that tempos should be run at a pace between 15K and Half race pace, which, unless you’re planning on a 3:01 marathon, makes the 1 hour definition moot.  There are LT pace charts at the back of the book that support the 15K-Half paces over the 1-hour definition.  Anyway, all this chat did nothing to deter me, but it did have me seriously mulling over my goal for today.

I could use Daniels’ pace for a 7 mi tempo at my projected MP, which would be 8:17, but he’s on the slow end of the scale and since I’d done my last 6 at 8:02, 8:17 seemed laggardly.  On the other hand, with the Distance Run on the near horizon, it made a lot of sense to use my projected goal Half pace, giving it some extra gas if I had it and I knew I’d have some because this morning was set to be beautifully cool.  Good temps had to account for something and was the only reason I wasn’t quite as nervous about today as I might have been.

Considering I won’t be tapered for PDR and will be running a 20 the weekend before, I figured sticking with 8:02 for the Half pace sounded reasonable.  That equates to a 1:45 Half.

So out I go, in love with the 63-degree temperature, and start with 3 easy because 2.5 gets me to the last water fountain and there was no way on earth I was going to stop during the fast miles.  I start the tempo, ramping up a bit on the first mile, ending up with an 8:09 average.  Hmmm, it’s a start,  but I had more in the tank today, so I got into a groove and ended up kicking 8:02 out of the park.

Tempo splits were: 8:09, 7:45, 7:49, 7:49, 7:53, 7:52, 7:49.  My average?  7:52! Woo-fucking-hoo!!!  I just gave myself an unofficial new 10K PR!

Two cooldown miles later – a comfortable 9:05 avg. that included stopping at the water fountain – I’m feeling like everything I’m working towards isn’t as nebulous as I (too often) imagine.  The training is coming together as it should.  What an overwhelming relief.