Tempo Workout

I think that this was the first tempo workout I've done in a long time; I typically decide to sleep in and skip the workout whenever Matt is doing tempo. I guess I'm usually too tired at that point each week. But today I got out the door and met him and Justin for it. We warmed up around the train station and started just past the train tracks, planning to do the turkey trot course.

We were doing 3 sets. Each set was 5 minutes at tempo, followed by 3 20/40s at mile pace and 2 minutes recovery. I wonder now if it was supposed to be 5k pace, as I was probably trying to run 5k pace but I knew it was a little slower at the time. The first 5 minutes was tough. The street had just been cleaned and so the pavement was wet. I felt my feet slipping a lot, and even more so once we got back onto dry pavement. I could hear Matt behind me too, but I didn't check the pace. I knew it was slow (5:41/mi). The 20/40s were not good, especially the third (5:12, 5:15, 5:35.) That last 40 was pretty much a waste of time...

My next 5 minutes was better, I made it a full loop around from the VFW, around Normandy and back to where I was pretty much. I couldn't hear Matt at all, but towards the end I started coughing and choking. I was blowing snot the entire time, and it felt endless. Almost like having a slippery rope with a knot tied in it stuck in my nose. Gross. Anyway, the 2nd 5 minutes was better (5:30/mi) and the 20/40s were more consistent (5:14, 5:14, 5:10). We grouped back up and decided to keep going down Sophia until the 5 minutes ended on #3, and then we'd turn around and I'd try to catch Matt and Justin.

We made it up the hill to where Caroline switches between one-way and two-way before the 3rd tempo started. I was happy not to have to go up any hills. I occurred to me that I won't be running this hard in November since the Turkey Trot is moving to JM from the Library. Weird. It's still hard mentally to run fast down Sophia and not stop when you get to that finish-line area. This 5 minutes felt a lot longer than the previous two, and I slowed down a little at the end as I got to the parking deck to end the 5 minutes (5:28/mi). I turned around and Justin was with Matt (his best tempo), but he blew it all there and went back instead of doing the last 3 20/40s. I wasn't read for the first one and it was terrible. On the 2nd I got back on track, and on the third I made a real effort to try to catch Matt, but I fell short. (5:21, 5:15, 4:52). I had to stop after that before we cooled down.

It was a good workout. Maybe not as fast as I should be doing, but nothing seems to be as fast as I should be doing it. But a hard effort nonetheless.

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