Week 8 – Key Run Workout #2

Posted by Steve ()

August 31, 2007

With less than 72 hours until the Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon I must admit I was looking forward to getting this workout out of the way and then enjoying my 2 day race taper.

The plan was to run 2 easy miles, followed by 3 miles @ ST (short tempo) pace, with an easy mile to finish. ST pace for me is currently 6:08 per mile, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. As I set off at around 4:45pm, the temperature was still above 80°F and my legs weren’t feeling great – still a bit sore from Tuesday’s track workout to be honest.

I gradually increased my speed towards the end of the 2 mile warm up with the aim of preparing my legs for the faster pace. For comparison sakes, I chose to run the same route as a similar workout 3 weeks ago. My 3 ST mile times that day were 6:17, 6:23 and 6:20, but the temperature was a little warmer at 84°F. As I hit the start of the trail for the first mile I wondered what I’d be able to achieve today…

For some reason my heart rate monitor wasn’t working, so I had no idea how hard I was actually working. A glance down at my Garmin told me I was running at around 6:20 per mile pace, so I needed to pick it up and pick it up quick. By the end of the first mile I’d quickened the pace to a 6:13 mile, but it was already time to make an abrupt turn and head back to the car.

The second mile was challenging too, but I managed to stay strong and maintain fairly good form. My split was another 6:13, very consistent, but still 5 seconds slower than goal pace. A mile is a long way to run when you’re hurting, but the best thing to do is break the distance down into manageable chunks. Run to the next tree, the next lamppost or the next turning – this was my plan for the last 1609 meters…

Somehow I’d managed to lower my mile time to a 6:05, but it took pretty much all I had to offer. I hadn’t felt great for the whole run (I think my later than usual lunch was a factor!), but it was more consistent than recent weeks. Now I just need to fully recover before the half marathon on Sunday, and hope the weather is going to cooperate. I could really do without another hot and humid day.

Watch this space for a race report sometime Sunday or Monday. If you’d like to read how I fared last year, here’s a blog post I made over at mycymru66 blog.