Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Spring - In My Step

There is a little bit of Spring in my step this morning. Last night I decided that the time was right to start easing back into some real training. With that in mind, I set out for an Tempo run this morning. For those of you who are reading this and don't have a running background, a Tempo run is essentially running a hard, but controlled, pace. Physiologically you should be right around your anaerobic threshold - the highest effort level at which your body can perform without building up lactic acid. Now with that out of the way, the following is from this morning's training log:

First Tempo run since getting injured. Felt good although I did struggle a little between miles 3 and 4 of the Tempo.

The breakdown:

2 warmup miles @ 8:10 min / mile
4 miles @ 6:26 min / mile
2 cooldown miles@ 8:08 min / mile

I am pretty excited as I haven't run a tempo run since last Fall and to be able to go at a 6:26 pace for 4 miles first time out is certainly helping with my mental outlook and has put a Spring in my step.

2 comments:

Keith Benoit said...

That's a pretty long tempo, dude. And fast, too. Congrats!

If you don't get injured, a PR in the Fall is a no-brainer. And since you were (I cringe every time I think of this) just 11 seconds from a Boston qualifying time, the PR should also be a BQ. IOW, PRBQ. Hmm. Sounds like a name for a band. ;)

Steve Schumph said...

Don't cringe about the 11 seconds. I was hideously under-trained and as it turns out, would have been too injured to run it this year anyway. Really, I didn't deserve to BQ based on the work I had done. Right now I simply don't have the stamina to come near 26.2 and I have come to respect the distance too much to undertrain again.

That said, and part of the reason I was excited this morning, is related to what you stated... that a PRBQ is definitely in the offing barring injury. Not to sound cocky, but I think it will be a significant PR as long as I can stay healthy.

I was beginning to meander a bit with the training, however, I think this will help give me some focus.

As an aside, I have started yoga to help in injury prevention. I need someone to get video of it as it must be a sight to see.

Halifax Weather