Monday, February 18, 2008

A spring-like day, seems like a good day for pain

My lord you can't argue with 21C weather in DC. The weather has been all over the place, from 0C to now.

I went out this morning with my revised schedule -- today was supposed to be a rest day, but with a day off for Family Day/President's Day, I put in my 8 mile run with 4 miles at lactate threshold pace. Other than the first warm day I've encountered since early October, I had to contend with a windy day, which made my loops of the Mall a little challenging.

I set out with one mile of warm up, then launched into the tempo run. Now, my last half marathon in September, in which I set my personal best, gave me a pace of 4:22 minute kilometres or about 7 minute miles. The splits shows I started at the right pace but with the combination of a first LT effort in months and the wind saw me up the pace over the last three miles.

Mile 1: 7:01 (4:21K pace)
Mile 2: 6:52 (4:16K pace)
Mile 3: 6:54 (4:17K pace)
Mile 4: 6:44 (4:11K pace)

I know it should be a pace I can sustain for a full 13 but it felt tough near the end. I really gutted it out. I guess looking back at the splits, I was going a lot faster than the 7 minute pace for the last mile.

A few things: Time to start hydrating. Also, I could see how a better running posture, which I'm trying to work on, has helped my running, especially into the wind.

Here are the splits and a map.


4 comments:

Triseverance said...

Very impressive. You are getting awfully fast.

yumke said...

Hey, thanks Bob. I'm fearing I'm being more dumb running faster than the planned pace. I'll be smarter next time around.

Ryan said...

Great job, Kenny... glad you got to enjoy the weather out east. Have you ever considered doing your LT's on a track? It makes a huge difference.

yumke said...

Ryan, that actually makes perfect sense to do it on the track! For some reason, I've never tried it. Now all I need is for the snow to melt so I can venture to my local high school track..