Category Archives: tempo

Highs and Lows

0, 04mi, 05mi, lactate threshold run, tempo

Start time: 7/17/07, 6:15pm
Location: McLean High School
Distance: ~4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:40min/mile & 7:00min/mile

It was sickeningly hot on Tuesday, yet somehow Laura and I had a really good set of LTRs. We kicked some serious butt, and I was delighted with how on-the-dot we were. This was a good prelude, then, to…

Start time: 7/19/07, 7:30am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:39min/mile

…my crappy tempo run, which doesn’t look bad until you realize it was supposed to actually be a 7-miler. I just felt run down and a tiny bit sick as it progressed, until I finally just decided that enough was enough. I’d been smart enough to weigh myself right before leaving. Upon returning? 2.5 pounds of water sweated out. Ouch. Too hot, and bad hydration equals a crappy run. I must try and keep that in mind. (How long have I been doing this?)

What Goes Up…

0, 07mi, tempo

Start time: 7/12/07, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:45min/mile

I was a little tired this morning, and having had little success with my last two mid-week tempo runs, I was determined to do a little better this time. Since I was giving the W&OD Trail another shot, I decided it was time to reverse my path; the entire section I use has a slight incline, so rather than my bad run two weeks ago where I ran down-up-up-down (and then pooped out at the end of the last “up”) I would reverse things and tackle it as up-down-down-up. That way there wasn’t such a long, steady uphill climb and breaking it up would do better.

Sure enough, my first two miles (up) were off-pace (9:07, 9:01) but I also don’t have a problem with taking those slower and then ramping up. The next stretch—aside from an incident that I will explain momentarily—the two stretches of “down” went pretty good (8:35, 8:26, 8:38). Even the final stretch of up wasn’t so bad; a little off-pace but nothing that I was going to worry about (8:46, 8:42). So, overall, an 8:45 average, which I’m pleased with. I’d have liked an 8:30 but I will take what I can get.

Oh yes, and the “incident”? Well, about two and a half miles in… a bird pooped on my face. This, by far, beats the infamous “Greg finds a cicada clinging to his neck” incident of 2004. GAH. SO GROSS. (Yes, I stopped and wiped it off.)

Sir Sweat-a-Lot

0, 04mi, tempo

Start time: 7/6/07, 7:30am
Location: Clarendon
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:40min/mile

Went for a quick run this morning; not the full prescribed distance, but a lack of proper hydration coupled with early morning temperatures meant that it was a tad uncomfortable; according to the scale approximately 1.5 pounds of water were sweated out this morning. Oof. (Also, a sudden surprise while running: the Arlington Boulevard Trail doesn’t go past Glebe. Oops. I quickly changed direction and veered north on Glebe and continued there in a big loop, rather than my planned out-and-back route. Oh well.)

Old Familiar Territory

0, 06mi, tempo

Start time: 7/1/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 6 miles
Average pace: 8:34min/mile

It’s been ages since I ran across the National Mall to the National Gallery and then back up to Georgetown, so that was a nice surprise this Sunday. We were supposed to run a tempo run for this 6-miler, so an 8:30pace was my approximate time I was shooting for. The group in front of us shot out of the gate really fast, and Zack and I made the mistake of trying to get around them. Oof. We hit our first mile way too fast and spent the rest of the run paying for it. The other four caught up to us around mile 2, and we were just a couple feet behind them until mile 4, at which point they made it across the light at 17th Street and Zack and I narrowly missed it. A solid minute later and then some… yeah, there’s no catching them at that point.

But a very, very nice run even though we were both more than a little wiped out at the end… but in a good way. I think.

Tempohell and VO2 Splat

0, 03mi, 04mi, tempo, vo2 max

Start time: 6/21/07, 7:30am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:31min/mile

Thursday’s tempo run (an 8:30min/mile pace) started out well enough; a bit fast, even, with the first three miles being 8:09, 8:28, and 8:33. Then somewhere around mile 4 I started slowing down bigtime, finally hitting the marker at (oof) 8:51. It was at that point I ended up declaring it quits. I was just tired and worn out; frustratingly because last week’s 5-mile tempo run had gone so well. I ended up walking about a quarter mile back, then jogged the rest in at a 10min/mile pace. Ah well, some runs are good, some… not so much.

Start time: 6/22/07, 7:45am
Location: Washington & Lee High School
Distance: 3 miles
Average pace: 10:00min/mile & 6:00min/mile

Today’s schedule was a VO2 Max run. Now, I’d only ever done one of these before, six weeks ago before the injury. So I knew eight reps was going to be right out. I’d figured if I could do six, though, I’d be delighted. Actual total? Three. It was through the third that I suddenly realized what I’d done horribly wrong, though. I hadn’t taken my allergy medicine (or my multivitamin but that’s not as much of an issue). Which would explain my breathing difficulties. Argh. Oh well, under the circumstances, getting three reps (exactly one mile at that speed) was a victory. Next time I’ll plan this out a little better.

After two great runs in Wilmington, though, two crappy runs? Pretty discouraging. I hope this does not bode badly for Sunday.

Tempolicious

0, 05mi, tempo

Start time: 6/14/07, 7:30pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:28min/mile

I was a tiny bit worried about this tempo run–would I be able to hit my 8:30s ok? It had been a while, after all. Thankfully… no problems whatsoever. Yay! I’m starting to get the hang of this crazy running thing.

Off-Tempo

0, 02mi, tempo

Start time: 5/10/07, 7:30pm
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 2.50 miles
Average pace: 8:12min/mile

Thursday’s scheduled run was a Tempo run, which for me is supposed to be at an 8:30min/mile pace. I plotted out a route where I knew every half-mile marker, and set out to see how I would do. Unfortunately, for the second time in the past week or so, I’d neglected allergy medicine. I at least had taken a morning dose but I’m so not used to needing a late-afternoon/early-evening dose that it keeps slipping off my radar until it’s too late. My head felt like it was packed in cotton and it was extremely uncomfortable at best to run. I finally gave up with half a mile to go, because I just felt horrible; it was hard to breathe and really unpleasant. On the bright side, while I started off a little too fast (oops) I’d done a pretty good job of hitting each half mile around the 4:15 mark; the exact times were 3:46, 4:01, 4:14, 4:08, 4:18. Next time, hopefully, I’ll be a little wiser when it comes to the Allegra.