Today, as part of quality week, I attempted to run a 4 mile tempo workout... I say attempted because what I ended up running was not really a tempo workout at all... it was more like a 4 mile time trial… and of course it was all Pepito's fault. Here’s how it went down.
I started by Mcmillaning my recent 5k time to find out what my tempo pace should be: 6:36-6:53... I figured since I'm ultimately focusing on my marathon performance I'd stray to the slower end of that spectrum and shoot for 6:45 pace...I headed out the door and after a 1 mile warm-up I turned on my Garmin and set my virtual partner "Pepito" to run a distance for 4 miles and knowing that rivalry with Pepito would induce me to run about 5-10 seconds faster than whatever pace I entered into the Garmin, I went ahead and set Pepito's pace to 6:56... Then I hit the start button and we were off...
4 miles later and here are my splits: 6:20, 6:25, 7:00!!!, 6:25...
Once again I let Pepito goad me into starting off entirely too fast. Subsequently I crashed at mile 3 and wind up slowing way down... and although I did manage to pick the pace back up for the last mile, I'm still, once again, running too fast... Another tempo run failure!
Honestly I’m starting to get frustrated in my lack of self-control. It’s like I got two speeds, fast and slow, and I just can’t seem to hit anything in between… and if, by chance, I do happen to hit that in between speed (like in my most recent half-marathon), I find myself ill-prepared to mentally handle the hard but not too hard pace… Bottom line is I have to take control! So right here, right now, I’m making a commitment to my pace… I’m going to put the S back into LSD (long slow distance)… I’m going to take control of my tempo runs… I’m going slow down my recovery runs… I’m going to hit my mileage totals, and I’m going to get in my quality work! I’m going to train like a champion and when race day finally comes I’m going to smash through the wall and perform like a champion!!! Q.E.D.
I had to google q.e.d. to find out what it meant.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm still a little confused as to what a hallucinogenic drug has to do with your pace.
lol... I meant Long Slow Distance by LSD... I editted my post to clear up any confusion :)
ReplyDeleteBetter watch your speed. I dont have to as snails and slugs go circles around me. Haven't gotten a garmin but I think it would help me out a lot rather than just cruizen at a negative speed were time actually reverses. Better luck in the future tempo runs man.
ReplyDeleteAhh yes. Speed's evil curse. It is fun to cruise along that fast but then you inevitably crash.
ReplyDeleteI still battle with this - my long runs are never slow enough. There was actually a time where I would do my recovery runs on a treadmill to make sure I held a 830 pace or so.
If you find the magic bullet to slowing down, let me know
I'm impressed that you are getting so much use out of your virtual partner. I only tried it once and that was by accident. I need to be goaded more often, otherwise I eventually default to my cruise pace.
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