Tempo Run

Tempo: Five minutes easy warm up, then three sets of 10 minutes half-marathon race pace, followed by five minutes easy (I dropped the last five minutes of easy running to wrap things up)

Distance: 4.5 miles

Time: 45:55

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: Guns 'N Roses, Use Your Illusion I

Oh yeah, what a great run this morning. It is beautiful out there, and the fall is certainly coming. What a great time of year for running.

So this morning I was thinking of writing down all of the things that I need to do to get out the door to run. I wanted to write this down mostly for memory, because it seems like I always miss something and then have to come back in and get it.

For starters, my alarm clock goes off at 4:00 AM. A five-minutes snooze times two, and I'm out of bed at 4:10 AM. Then it's in to the bathroom to brush my teeth and the usual. I keep my running watch in the bathroom, so I have to remember to pick this up and put this on. Now if I was smart enough I have on some of my running clothes from the night before, otherwise I need to find the right socks, shorts, shoes and shirt. This morning's shirt had to be long sleeve, and as it gets cooler there will be the pants or leggings. Then I grab my phone and running shoes and head downstairs.

Here we have to get the coffee started, and I mean HAVE TO! I want to make sure I have a nice cup of joe while I write in my blog when I get back. I usually put my shoes on in the kitchen, and then fill up my water bottle. Lastly I grab my head lamp and put it over my head (this is what I forgot this morning. This little device is still new to me). Then I unlock the door, head outside and grab my headphones out of the car.

If I'm lucky I'll have all this stuff gathered, and will be putting my water bottle down on the fire hydrant before 4:30 AM. Then it's a matter of picking the music for the run, setting the stop watch, and taking those first steps up the hill around the loop that is my neighborhood. It seems like a bit of a routine, but you have to have it, because believe me, it's early!

Tempo Run

Tempo: 15 minutes easy warm up, 15 minutes of a steady pace (picking up your breath), then 15 minutes all out (5K race pace / breathless)

Distance: 5.2 miles

Time: 46:05

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ .5

Gut: ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★

Mind:  ★ ★ ★

Overall:  ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: AC/DC, AC/DC Live

Man, this was not a great run this morning! Nobody likes complainers, but this tempo run just felt bad. Don't get me wrong, I got in my time and my pace, but I'm still feeling yucky about it 15 minutes after it's over.

So problems: 1) It's getting cold again. That's mostly just a sad thing. I can't believe I will be wearing long pants and a hat soon! But my cold little ears set up for that brain freeze type of headache, which kept popping up every half mile or so. Now, the good part about cold is that my water bottle gets nice and cold while it's sitting and waiting for me on top of the fire hydrant outside my house!

2) This run was FAST. I think that I psyched myself up for it a little, but the last 15 minutes had me working. In reality that's the point, but I also think that I was a little extra tired getting up this morning, as I burnt the candle on the other end last night getting caught up on some work.

3) Lastly, and what I think is the big culprit here is that I decided to get a little extra protein in my diet as of this past weekend. You know the chalky chocolate powder stuff, with more protein than your intestines can handle! I figured this would help me replace some of the less healthy meats that I'm eating through the week, and would help me lean up a little with the running and my recent strong showing at the gym. The problem though, is that this stuff just makes you bloated, especially for the first few weeks. So this run this AM was a big dose of nausea, and I really wasn't able to get in my half-way sip of water. That definitely wouldn't have stayed down - yuk!

So there you have it. Now that this blog is written, I'm feeling better about the whole thing, and by the time I get to work, I'll be very happy that I got this run in under my belt - even if it didn't feel so hot while I was doing it!

Tempo Run

Tempo: Five minutes easy warm up, then 12 minutes at half-marathon race pace. Four minutes easy, then repeat 12 minutes of faster pace. Finish with five minutes easy run cool down.

Distance: 3.6 miles

Time: 38:07

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ .5

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: Limp Bizkit, Results May Vary

A very cool thing happened on this morning's run. I am starting to figure out my half-marathon race pace! This sounds simple enough, but really it hasn't been. See, all of this training has been through the recommendations of the Runner's World Complete Guide to Running magazine-book. Up until this point, the long runs have been at an "easy" pace. What had me nervous was that when I was running the faster paces during the tempo runs, they seemed faster, made me out of breathe, and was something that I didn't think that I could continue for 13 miles. Sure, I can do the distance runs on the weekends, but this is like at a 10:00 minute mile pace, and I am hoping to do better than that for the half-marathon in October.

Now, this may have something to do with the 5K faster pace that I ran in last week's Catsup & Mustard 5K, but I could feel this morning that the faster half-marathon pace is the pace that I like. I actually enjoy running at this pace more so than the warm up easy pace (the easy pace is the pace that I normally run on my long runs). Today for the first time, I can feel that with continuing this training schedule, I am going to get myself to a place where I should be able to run the 13 miles at my goal pace. So 1 hour 50 minute half marathon, you better watch out. I might just have this figured out... if I don't get injured. And really, I guess that's the point. Mixing up tempo runs, hills and distance runs keep you moving forward without having to run race pace all the time, thus avoiding injury. Man, I hope so!

Tempo Run

Tempo: Six minutes easy run (say, just fast enough to get a little sweat up), then 3 minutes all out (your best impression of an 800 meter for all you track stars out there), repeat times four.

Distance: 3.4 miles

Time: 36:33

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Soundtrack: Chemical Brothers, Dig Your Own Hole

SUPERMOON! How cool is it to run in the moonlight?!? I actually missed the full supermoon by a day or two, but the left overing waning supermoon still had my whole block lit right up. What a real difference it makes to run a tempo and be able to see where you are going.

I must have been pretty excited for this run this morning. I woke up at 2:40AM ready to go, and had to convince myself to get back to bed for a little more rest. My legs were a little slow to warm up after this weekend's long run, but they felt great by the end. The left over BBQ from last night was a little heavy for this morning, but that should all be finished off by tomorrow!

In race news, I've signed me and the two older kids up for the Catsup & Mustard 5K in Manchester, CT this Saturday, August 16 - which happens to be Chloe's birthday. I'm sure the little one won't want to run in the kids 1/2 mile run, but I think that I have her convinced that the block party afterward is a big blow out for her birthday. Should be a good time. Look for that web page to come together under "Races" later this weekend.

Tempo Run

Tempo: Seven minutes easy run, followed by seven minutes 5K race pace. Repeat times three.

Distance: 4.3 miles

Time: 42:57

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★

Mind:  ★ ★

Overall:  ★ ★ ★

Soundtrack: Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon

This was the Vacation-to-Real-Life shock - stay up until 1AM working on a new web-site, and then wake up at 4AM for a tempo run. I'm pretty sure that I won't have trouble getting back to sleep at my usual 10PM tonight!

So this tempo run was pretty average. My quads were a bit tight waking up this morning - not sure why. I was also super jumpy about running in the dark for the first mile. It's getting darker in the mornings, and I think that I am going to need a headlamp if I am going to stick to 4AM runs. I'm also a little antsy about returning to work after a week off. No real reason why, just seems to happen after every vacation. I'll be back in the swing of things by lunch time!