Long tempos. Aaagh. P&D seem to love them. Hopefully they will one day bring out a third edition of the book with slightly less intimidating sessions.
I was planning to get this done first thing but it was very wet so I procrastinated until the rain stopped. Finally, after lunch, with the weather looking pretty pleasant, I got out there to give it a go.
The plan was to split the session into 3 separate runs so I could use the average pace metric to guide the tempo section.
So 4 miles warm up, up to and along my favourite trail. The legs didn't feel too bad but hardly fresh. After a quick breather and comfort break it was time to get started.
You can never really be sure if you are going to have a good day until you get started on the fast bit. With that in mind I was very happy to bang out a 6:31 first mile. The speedy miles kept coming with the first 8 being below 6:40 and the heart rate staying below 150. The only problem with doing the run at this time was the amount of traffic on the trail; mainly dog walkers but also hikers, cyclists and horse riders. In general there is enough space for everyone but I tend to get grumpy towards the end of tempo runs and start getting cross with people.
Towards the end of the tempo run someone tried to get out of my way but only succeeded in walking in front of me. I muttered loudly "Oh come on!" and weaved around him. Not cool on my part. Being courteous is more important than losing a second or two.
I started to fade a bit in the last 4 miles, with mile 10 the slowest at 6:48. This included a U-turn which never helps the mile split. Over the last 2 miles I increased the effort as I tried to empty the tank. The HR crept above 150 for the first time and I was rewarded with two miles in the low 6:40s.
So, 12 miles averaging 6:38 minutes per mile. That may well be my fastest ever MP run, although I can't be sure as I normally do the MP section as part of a bigger run. Either way I am very happy to produce that in the middle of a 80 mile week. Things are looking up!
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