I had no set plan in mind for what intensity levels I'd do various runs this week - the priority was just getting out and trying to build mileage back up so I can continue with the long runs as soon as possible. As it stands right now, if I were to do the 15 miler this weekend, I'd be right on the original training schedule (as opposed to the month ahead I started out with).
After the 5 mile run on Tuesday, and still feeling improvement day by day with the back, I decided that I'd do a 6 mile tempo run today to start re-establishing some speed. I had originally thought I might make todays run something a bit longer like 9-10 miles as further build up - but if I wanted to do 15 miles this weekend, I'd probably be better off with something shorter today. Plus, I wanted to see how I'd fare adding some distance to my previous tempo runs of 5 miles, where I was able to do sub 8 min/miles for the entire distance.
My 'goal' was to see how close to an 8 min/mile (the only real basis I have for a tempo run) I could maintain for the entire 6 miles. When I started off, I went the first few hundred yards a bit quicky - the classic rookie mistake. I quickly realized the faulty logic, and forced myself to slow down - knowing that even if I did a 9 minute mile on the first mile, I'd be MUCH better off in the long run by starting a bit slower and should be able to make up that lost minute.
I passed the first mile marker around 8 minutes, and then walked for 30 seconds. I then started off again - passing the 2 mile mark around 16 minutes. That meant I did the next mile in about 7:30 - which was my magic mile time back in the beginning of April. I realized this as I passed the two mile mark, and was pleased at this - because it was a definitive indication that I had improved quite a bit in the two months time. I then ran to about the 4.3 mile mark, and stopped to walk for a minute - I had just finished a half mile hill, and my HR was pushing the high 170's for a few minutes, and I didn't want to overdo it. The total time at this point was 34:39 - so my pace was an average of about 8:04 min/mile. The segment between the end of mile 1 and the 4.3 mile mark was 26:06, so that 3.3 miles had a pace of 7:55 min/mile. The remainder of the run was done in a total of 14:22, and the distance was the 1.7 miles left - so an average pace of 8:27 min/mile during that last bit.
Total Distance: 6 miles
Total Time: 49:01
Avg HR: 166
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the run. For one thing, its a dramatic improvement from last weekend - and while it can be expected that after a few burn-in runs after a short period of time off, it is still nice to actually progress through it. Second, it is by far the best time I've had for that loop thus far - so while the two weeks off set me back a bit, I seem to be bouncing back pretty quickly as I am able to sustain a moderately high HR for an extended period of time, while maintaining good speed (for me).
On the other hand - if I am going to do the marathon in 3:30, I have to repeat that, plus add another 20.2 miles to it while maintaining the same pace. Now that there is funny - I don't care who you are!
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