Thursday December 23, 2010

Workout: 3.5 mile tempo run
Time: 33:30
Incline: 2%
Weight: 127.2


Tempo Run = sucky.  


1 mile at 6.0
1.5 miles at 6.5
1 mile at 6.0


The point of a tempo run - according to the websites I looked at last night - is to get used to running "comfortably hard" for a length of time.  The time, I assume, will increase with every week.  "Comfortably hard" - sounds like an oxymoron to me, but whatever.  I also read that you run the tempo portion at your 10k pace.  I don't have a 10k pace, I just have A pace.  The same pace for every run.  So I ran at a 9:00 pace, which is faster than what I normally run and faster than any of the races I've done.  I suppose I chose that because I'd like that to be my pace and I need to get used to running it.


One thing that I'm realizing in all of this is that I'm not a racer - yet.  My main goals in the races that I've done, is to just complete the race without walking.  I've yet to do that in a 5k, but I've accomplished that in the two halfs.  That is a very big accomplishment for me at this point.  I just started running a couple of years ago and at that time, I couldn't run a mile without stopping to walk.  I struggle with high heart rate throughout my workouts - usually 180 bpm - and have a difficult time maintaining activity at that level for great lengths of time (it SHOULD be difficult... that is max heart rate for my age).  So to run 13 whole miles without taking a break to walk is huge for me.  Which is why my performance in the 2 5ks I've run is so disappointing and aggravating to me.  After the first one I cried for 15 minutes.  It was my first race and I had worked so hard to become a runner, but I was not prepared for the hills on the course (had mainly trained on the treadmill at 0% incline).  The recent Turkey Trot... well that was totally due to going out too fast, not stretching, and being over tired.  All lessons learned.


So all of that to say... I'm not a racer.  I'm a runner.  I'm constantly working on my fitness, but I'm not sure I have a desire at this point to try to be a racer.  I am excited that my pace has organically gotten faster.  I used to be thrilled to run a 10:30 pace and now I'm thrilled to run a 9:15.  But I didn't do any work to get faster, I just became a better runner through practice and then suddenly I was also a faster runner.


5/3 Riverbank Run - goal is to complete it without walking.  I hope to run it in around 2:30.  I will do all of the training as a way to increase my fitness, but I don't have any strong desire or illusions that I'll be running much faster than 9:30.  I have no doubt that I can run it without walking, since I felt so amazing after the Holland race (so many people have told me that I didn't run hard enough because I had gas left at the end... and to that I say: I don't care.)


For me, the training is important because it keeps me on track and gives me discipline.  That is what I need the training for.  If I get faster by doing it, then all the better.  Maybe I will be a racer in the future, but right now it isn't my focus.  And I'm okay with that.