LA Marathon training program: Week 9 - Day 4

Tempo: 7mi - 5 @ 7:31 (Planned: 7mi - 5 @ 7:37)

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LA Marathon training program: Week 9

Friday January 12th, 2007


Tempo: 7mi - 5 @ 7:31 (Planned: 7mi - 5 @ 7:37)
 
Weight: 187 Time: 5:30am Temp: 40f Weather: Overcast Route: Treadmill
Notes:

   This was perhaps one of the hardest workouts I have ever done, I don't know why. Physically it was hard, but I do not feel particularly sour or stressed by it. I would say it was a bit harder then a tempo should be. But not that bad. I think the real difficulty was mental.

  First off I was about ready to skip today, while still warming up.  So I was pretty sure it was going to be a hard run. Once I kicked in the 7:35 pace (My treadmill wont do 7:37) I was sure I would never be able to make it. But after about a mile I realized that it was not really the speed that was hard. I just did not want to be running. So, I kept running. Half way into the tempo I realized that I was going to make it. But still wanted to stop.

   To try and get more motivated I decided to bump up to 7:30 for the last 2 miles. And for the last 400m I bumped it up to 6:58. I did a rather leisurely cool down, ending at a 13:00 pace for the last 400m.

  In the end I survived, no real pain, I do not feel I over taxed my heart. I Think I am just slightly burned out. The next two weeks are the hardest in my program, and I think I am dwelling on it. I must lighten up. And try and appreciate what I have accomplished over the last 8 weeks, instead of dreading what I still have to do over the next 6.

  On a brighter note, This tempo run was actually 20 seconds faster then my 8k race from December.
 

View my full 16 Week training program.

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Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I hate tempo runs! They always seem impossible when you first start. And then it totally becomes a mental game trying to keep yourself moving at the same pace. For me, it's even more difficult not knowing exactly what my pace is (Nike+ is no good for these kinds of runs -- at least not with getting realtime pacing info that's accurate) so I end up pushing harder and always thinking that I've fallen behind.

I can't imagine what it's like on a treadmill. The one thing that does help me is picking out other runners and trying to catch them one at a time. With no one else around, I don't know how I'd do it.