Tempo Run

Yesterday we had our first speedwork practice.

I must say, I was dreading it all day. The advanced group was to do a 5 mile run...1.5 miles of a nice, easy warmup and 3.75 miles of a tempo run. Our tempo was supposed to be our 10k pace, which I didn't really know, because I haven't run a 10k in a long time, plus I am still trying to figure out my pace. Luckily, Coach Steve always talks more about "effort-levels" instead of time goals. He said we were normally supposed to be running our tempo run at 80-85%, which, by "talk-test" meant that you would be able to get out a few words to your running partner, but only between deep gusty breaths. :) That, I can understand.

However, it was really really muggy yesterday. I was already sweating as I was standing there just listening to the coaches explain the workout. (And when I saw people in my group running, there was steam coming off of them....crazy!) So Steve told us that we should stay more on the 80% effort side, and maybe be able to get out a whole sentence.

My friends and I took out a nice, easy 10:30 pace for the first 1.5. When we hit the 72nd Street Transverse I took off into my tempo run. I lost my entire group.

I felt good though, and I wanted to keep it up, so I pulled back a smidge. Just as I was hitting the 102nd Street Transverse (about 2 miles into the tempo run), my teammate David caught up to me. He said his goal was to catch me after the Transverse, but he was concentrating on his form and caught me. I was feeling a little tired by this point (understatement) and could hear myself breathing. It was very controlled breathing, but definitely loud.

David would NOT stop talking. And I was DYING.

He was talking about Rent (the musical), he was talking about the Japan Day races and all of the little kids who ran it, he kept reminding me that we were way ahead of the group. He was talking about how close we were even though we hadn't hit Engineer's Gate yet. He kept saying hello to everyone in the park. I wanted to tell him to go ahead because I knew I was holding him back and I was dying. (I would normally welcome this type of thing on a run, but I was pushing too hard and felt like quitting, so I was not happy to have company.)

At the same time, I knew David was keeping me on pace. I was pushing, and I wouldn't have done it if he wasn't there. Part of me was like, "Pull back, Emily. It is humid as hell and you can't handle it." But the other part of me was like "Stick with it. Run it in with David and you will be finished faster."

The thing was, my legs weren't tired...but my lungs were (yay humidity).

We finally hit Cleopatra's Needle, so I knew we were close. David kept reminding me that we were still ahead. I kept reminding him that I took it out too fast and felt awful. I was DRENCHED in sweat. It was so gross.

Maybe I should mention...

David is a Leukemia survivor and one of our honored teammates. So the fact that I was bitching and moaning about this stupid tempo run while he was running it in with me all happy and cheery made me feel like I was a wimp. If he could go through this AND Leukemia I figured I had no right to complain.

So I thanked him at the end. My friends caught up to us about 3-4 minutes later and told me that I was FAST. I told them that there was NO WAY I would have been that fast without David pushing me. He overheard me and said "I didn't run it for you. You did that."

I am not going to complain about my workouts anymore.

Just kidding, I'm sure I will, but having a survivor like that running with you who is SO POSITIVE the entire way kind of makes you want to not complain.

Besides, I always feel like I really accomplished something after those Tuesday night workouts. But pushing so hard during them DOES suck.

I hadn't looked at my watch the whole time because I felt like it would take too much energy. When I got home I hooked up my Garmin and found out that my pace for the tempo run was 8:23. Cool.

Now I'm ready for the next speed workout. :)

Hurrah!

Hill month is over!!!! Thank goodness. I also just got Ramon's new schedule and it looks like August is going to be MUCH nicer. We even have some shorter (tenish miles) long runs, and NO running on Fridays.

Last night was tough, but because the run was broken up into different sections you didn't have too much time to think about it because your mind was always going. It was basically a series of tempo runs. The goal was to build up a lot of lactic acid in your muscles and then see if you could overcome it.

The first part was a warm-up, from East 85th to 102nd. I made sure I wasn't speeding on this one, like I like to do. From there we were supposed to run FAST down the Lasker Pool hill and up that mean and awful Harlem Hill. Our coaches warned us that even though we were supposed to be taking this part of the run fast that we should hold back a little on the downhill. Otherwise our quads would kill us at the end of the workout. But overall, we were not supposed to hold back on this hill. It should be at least our 5k pace and if a coach asked us how we were doing all we should be able to get out was "good" and nothing more, because we should be breathing that hard.

I was nervous because the hill defeated me last week. Over and over. Eight times.

So I put in my mind that I wasn't going to let it beat me this time. I had this running conversation in my head the whole time I was running up it.

ME: I'm going to spank you, you *%?#ing hill! Here I come! I'm not even tired yet! This is my FIVE K Pace you *%$#!
HILL: You're not even halfway there yet and you're getting tired
ME: Oh, you don't even KNOW how much endurance I have...and I can almost see the water fountain from here.
HILL: But the water fountain is only halfway.
ME: Well I just hit the waterfountain *&%$ and I STILL have energy.

(Kind of stupid, I know...but I did have a running dialogue in my head).

So I was definitely tired after that hill, and wondering how I was going to make my next tempo run, which was the 1.5 miles around the Reservoir. Luckily, this one was flat AND luckily this one was only at a 10k pace. So I got to slow down a LITTLE. It was still tiring me though. Especially at the end. Kristin was on my tail the whole time, which was great. I think she is right around my pace, so she was pushing me to stay on pace. She passed me at the end though, and I was dying.

I stopped to take a drink at the fountain and had to ask the coach what the next part was (this whole workout was very confusing). The last part was .5 miles recovery. When we got to 90th on the west side we had to run it in with as much speed as we could muster. The problem with this, of course, is that we were all wiped out by this point. So this was the part that was the "test".

You were supposed to be able to get around or better than your last mile test. If you could do it, it meant that your training was going well and that your muscles were strong. If you were off, it meant that you needed to work your muscles more.

I had NO energy. But the recovery did help me a little bit. As we got closer and closer to 90th street I just got that feeling in my stomach that you get when you are going up the hill on the rollercoaster. You know it will be fine, but it's the anticipation of getting there. I had to stop myself from taking the recovery too fast so that I could just get it over with.

When I hit 90th I took off. I felt like I had a lot of range of movement in my legs...like my shins were paralel to the ground when I kicked back (like Bob [Roncker] always said they should be in his running clinic). Don't get me wrong...I was breathing heavily. That mile seemed to last forever. But when I clocked in...8:03!!! I guess my training is going well :)

Now THAT was the kind of workout I feel GREAT after!