So when was the last time I actually had a decent tempo day? It's been a while, I can tell you. And today's run continued the streak of suck.
So Thursday's workout was supposed to be an 8 mile tempo run at my marathon pace of 7:50. Add in a half-mile to a mile warmup and cooldown and you've got about a 10 mile total run.
So I took off from the OSU campus and headed north on my usual tempo route. I think this will be the first thing to go. I've got to find a new route. It was hot, in the low 80's, which was fine at first, but definitely hit me toward the end.
So I should have had one slow mile, eight fast miles, then one more slow mile. Of course, because of the route, I knew going in that my third "fast" mile would be slow because of the large hill, but other than that, there was the plan.
Instead, it looked something like this:
-Mile 1, warmup: fine. Although after speed work on Tuesday and an off day on Wednesday, my legs are never quite happy on Thursday. I'm wondering if I should shift an easy day to Thursday and my tempo day to Friday. Maybe.
-Mile 2: 7:55. Good enough. I felt OK. Not great, but I wasn't struggling either.
-Mile 3: 7:56. Good. Had to push a little on this mile. It finished going on a slight uphill.
-Mile 4: 9:45. Yeah, I admit, I stopped and walked through some shade on this mile.
-Mile 5: 7:37. Had to check my speed back here. Going downhill and felt fast.
-Mile 6: 7:39. Still mostly downhill. I was getting pretty hot at this point. Not much shade through this part of the route.
-Mile 7: 7:47. Probably my best mile. Basically flat, heading back toward campus. Should have been carrying water. I was dying.
-Mile 8: 9:30. Apparently, I was done. Stopped to get a drink of water from the fountain by Legacy Park, and never really could pick it back up after that.
-Mile 9: 9:15. Struggling. Just trying to get home at this point.
-Mile 10: 9:50. Cooldown. Brutal.
-Mile 11: 8:40. Actually, this was just .40 of a mile. Why did I speed up? I don't know. Just ready to get home, inside and out of the sun, I guess.
So that's that. I've got to change some things up the next couple Thursdays and see if I can get in a couple good tempo days. I mean, if I can't keep this pace for 8 or 9 miles, I'm not keeping it for 26.2.
I'm thinking of trying to run on Friday. Maybe a new course, which has shade and is mainly flat, not up nor down. Skagit Flats is pretty darn flat, so I don't really need to work much on hills. Even though it's only an hour and a half, maybe take water and a gel, so I can keep the pace longer.
Gotta try something new.
Here we go.
Go buy the book: 
