Indiana Jen and the Tempo of Doom

I hesitated to look, but I did. As I feared, the schedule revealed it's horrific request: 12 miles, 7 Tempo Pace. I shuddered. The run loomed darkly throughout the day. I distracted myself by reading blogs, watching tv, eating Fruity Pebbles, but it was useless. The uncomfortable effort that was my fate weighed heavily upon me. Finally, the clock chimed four and I knew it was time. First, I must run 5 miles at an easy pace. This act only prolonged to my dread. I completed this run with minimal effort and as I jogged I gained some confidence. I returned home and joined forces with my trusty sidekick, and we marched boldly out the door. It was time! I must face my enemy, the tempo run. I puffed out my chest and furrowed my brow and charged into battle.

Ok that was way too much effort! I just felt all dramatic and halloweeny. hehe, weenie.

So I did my warm up miles solo:

5.4 miles/50:25/9:20 average pace

Then Zach came home from work and helped pace me on my 7 mile tempo run:

7.0 miles/54:46/7:49 average pace

It really was how I described above. I so dread these runs! Especially this one which is the longest of the schedule. 7 miles seems like so long to push at that pace. Technically it's only a little faster than half-marathon pace, which I of course can run for 13 miles, but still. Ugh.

This is the first time I did my tempo run with Zach and boy it helped! I told him my goal was to start off a bit slower, like 8:00 pace. Then I told him I wasn't going to look at my watch and just run by effort. I just asked him to tell me "good" if I asked how our pace was. Every mile I would say "how was it?" and he said "good" every time. :) We finally stopped for a drink of water after mile 5 but the fountain wasn't working, so we ran another mile and finally got a drink. Then we powered home. I only asked Zach what our pace was after that first stop and was so happy to hear it was 7:55 or something. I think not knowing my pace helped me run strong for longer. I think I get kind of intimidated when I know for sure that I'm running 7:45 or whatever.

So the total workout was:

Thursday

12.4 miles/1:45:11/8:29 average pace

After the run and for the rest of the night I was very sore. Especially my left shin and knee area. It's a familiar soreness but still sucks. I actually took a couple Aleve which I rarely do. Luckily this morning it feels a bit better, but still sore. I was supposed to run 5 miles today but decided to take it extra easy since I have 20 miles tomorrow!

Friday

3.0/28:31/9:30 average pace

I felt fine once I started running but stuck to my plan of 3 miles. It was a very halloweeny run- it was rainy and there are leaves everywhere. I downloaded a spooky tale from The Classic Tales Podcast. I even wore my Run Like Hell race shirt from a couple weeks ago which has a Halloween picture. I'm such a dork! I saw a few people riding bikes and walking in costumes, but no runners in costume. :)

Tonight we're not going to any parties since we have a long run tomorrow. But, we are going to see David Sedaris at this neat theatre.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!! I'll leave you with a picture of our pumpkins that we carved last night. Mine is, as always, the "special" looking one.

Tune in next week for pictures of my cat dressed in a to-be-determined costume! Here are a couple of previous designs: