Tempo Tuesday

Today's document called for a 4-mile tempo run at 5:32 effort. I say effort because some of the tempo was run off the track, around the berm at Nike, making it nearly impossible to accurately check pace. Now tempo runs are the source of some controversy in the running community. Not that they are an excellent training tool, that much is widely agreed upon, but exactly how far and how fast to do them seems to be the source of the controversy. In my opinion (and remember, I'm 1/24 of a doctor), the point of a tempo run is to callous your mind and body to the rigors of racing extended distances. I mean, if your race is going to require you to run hard for 30 minutes then it might be a good idea to run hard for 30 minutes, every once in a while as a way to acclimatize to the rigors of racing. This concept is the basis for any tempo run. The real challenge is zeroing in on the pace and distance of the run. Like everything in running there is no "secret" that will see you improve by leaps and bounds. For this reason tempos pretty much always vary in pace and distance. To break things down simply (which I am a fan of), I offer some advice that I read on the message board at http://www.letsrun.com/. The topic was workouts that would indicate if you were in 67-minute half marathon shape. The advice was along the lines of, "Running a 67 minute half requires two things; 1) running 5:07 pace and 2) running hard for 67 minutes. So practice running faster than 5:07 pace and practice running hard for 67 minutes." To me, this sums up the point of a tempo run quite nicely.

I met up with Hoss at Nike for this effort. We ran a mile on the track, then a lap of the berm (wood chips), then another mile on the track. Our pace was supposed to be 5:32 on the track, then keep that same effort on the berm. We hit our first mile in 5:31, then departed the friendly, well-marked oval for the unknown of the berm. I felt like the effort was kept pretty even, but it was dark and there were no markers, which I think made it more fun. After a lap, we finished up with another 4 laps around and I timed those in 5:16. In reality the last mile was probably a little slower than that as we didn't start right at the starting line. Though our last 3 laps were slightly under 5:20 pace. I definitely started racing at the end, which is generally frowned up in workouts, but on the up side, it was nice to know there's still some turnover in them there legs.

Overall, we were 23:12 for 4 miles, going 5:31-12:22-5:16 (roughly). The great thing is that we got a good effort and felt like 5:30 pace was manageable on the grass. In cross country times matter little and it's the place that really counts. I'm glad I was a little competitive, hopefully it'll stick around through Saturday.

Day/Week: 8/15