Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Tempo 8

 

Summary

Name Tempo 8
Location Houston, TX
Start Time 8/14/2013 5:12 AM (UTC-05:00) Category My Activities:Running
Distance 8.07 mi Time 01:11:00.0
Time Moving 01:11:00.0 Stopped 00:00:25.0
Average pace 08:48 min/mi Max. pace 06:48 min/mi
Weather Sunny; 79.3 °F
Calories 1,057 kcal
Notes For me, the tempo run is where the rubber meets the road. It seems this is where I get the most bang-for-the-buck as far as training benefit is concerned. It also happens to be the toughest workout for me to hit successfully.

I believe today was the 6th scheduled tempo run of my current "comeback" cycle. I've only come close to hitting one successfully and the others have generally been spectacular flameouts. I think there are 2 reasons for this. First, having not raced seriously in a couple years, I don't have a good idea of what my real fitness level is. Therefore, my training paces are essentially rough guesstimates on my part. I'll confess that secretly I've sent my training paces as if I could run a 3:25 marathon. I can't and I know I can't ... right now. So my fudging of the training pace manifests itself on my toughest workout of the week - the tempo run. I'm hitting enough of the other workouts to delude myself into thinking I'm actually close to being right about my fitness. I probably shouldn't be.

Second, the heat index. I don't know if it's coming from Chicago back to the Houston climate or that I'm getting older or that my fitness isn't where I'm used to or ... but the climate really takes the starch out of me. I don't remember it being quite this bad on me in the past. Sure, I blew up here and there in summers past but seemingly not on the frequent basis as I am now.

All of this to say that today's tempo was unsuccessful. I was scheduled for 8 miles at marathon pace. For a 3:25 marathon that's 7:49 per mile. I then said okay it's going to be about 80°-85°F so what would a 3:25 marathon translate to under those conditions. I used this site

http://runnersconnect.net/training/tools/temperature-calculator/

So giving myself this heat-adjusted cushion, I'd run my 8-mile tempo at 8:05 per mile. Didn't happen. Went too fast at the first then flamed out after 3 miles. Didn't want this to be a waste so I walked for 3 minutes and did 1-mile intervals the rest of the way in. Frustrating!

807/739/752
803
827
815
819/0.22@753
GPS Track Points 803, average recording interval: 5.0s / 54.32 ft

Splits

No Start
Time
Start
Distance
Duration Distance Average
Pace
1 5:12:22 AM 0.00 mi 00:02:15 0.25 mi 08:53 min/mi
2 5:15:33 AM 0.25 mi 00:08:06 1.00 mi 08:06 min/mi
3 5:23:40 AM 1.25 mi 00:07:38 1.00 mi 07:38 min/mi
4 5:31:19 AM 2.25 mi 00:07:51 1.00 mi 07:51 min/mi
5 5:39:11 AM 3.25 mi 00:00:06 0.02 mi 07:20 min/mi
6 5:39:17 AM 3.27 mi 00:03:23 0.21 mi 16:21 min/mi
7 5:42:40 AM 3.48 mi 00:08:03 1.00 mi 08:03 min/mi
8 5:50:43 AM 4.48 mi 00:00:06 0.01 mi 07:42 min/mi
9 5:50:49 AM 4.49 mi 00:03:24 0.19 mi 17:58 min/mi
10 5:54:13 AM 4.68 mi 00:08:27 1.00 mi 08:27 min/mi
11 6:02:55 AM 5.68 mi 00:00:04 0.01 mi 09:02 min/mi
12 6:02:59 AM 5.69 mi 00:03:29 0.19 mi 18:27 min/mi
13 6:07:21 AM 5.88 mi 00:08:15 1.00 mi 08:15 min/mi
14 6:15:37 AM 6.88 mi 00:00:05 0.01 mi 08:32 min/mi
15 6:15:42 AM 6.89 mi 00:08:19 1.00 mi 08:19 min/mi
16 6:29:35 AM 7.89 mi 00:01:46 0.22 mi 07:52 min/mi
Totals: 01:11:00.0 8.07 mi 08:48 min/mi

Created with Activity Documentation Plugin for SportTracks
(see http://www.sporttracks-plugins.com)

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