3 mile tempo

Tonight was tempo run night. It was 68 with winds 13mph out of the west and 88% humidity. I ran two miles in 16:54 to warm up, stretched for a minute or two, ditched my shirt and took off. The plan was to run a 2-3 mile tempo run at 6:51 pace. The 6:51 pace is per "Daniels' Running Formula." Apparently if I am capable of running a 2 mile race in 12:25, in this case a time trial, then I have a VDOT of 50. With a VDOT of 50 I should run my easy and long run pace at 8:32, my marathon pace runs at 7:17, and my tempo pace at 6:51. I'm only a few chapters into the book so I'm not exactly sure how this all fits together and the book isn't easy reading. It is REAL dry.

Anyway, I started my tempo run and hit the first mile in 6:52.34. I was running relaxed and wasn't straining but I was worried abous slowing down the second mile so I surged a little and ended up surging my way to a 6:43.72 mile and a 13:36.06 split. I reined myself in the third mile and ran a 6:49.08 with a three mile time of 20:25.14 which is the fastest I have run three miles in practice since I started running again. I really felt like I could have run another mile as I wasn't straining at all. My HR at each mile was: 174, 184, and 189. I had an average HR of 177. I set my Max HR at 188, which is aproximately 90% of my max, and spent 19:34 of my run under my Max HR. I think the only reason I went over is because there is a bit of an incline as you run out from under the railroad bridge and toward the high school that lasts 200-300 meters before it levels out again.

All in all I was quite pleased with my workout. I ran a mile cooldown in 8:17 and did some easy stretching when I got home. As soon as I post this I am going to sit in a cold bath for 15 or 20 minutes before heading to bed.

I want to congratulate one of my young rivals from the running club for winning the mile at his fresh-soph conference track meet. He covered 1600 meters in 5:13 as a freshman. I ran 5:11 as a frosh so maybe Jordan Bartolazzi can smoke that before the season is over. Jordan may not realize who I am but we go back and forth in races. The first race I beat him in was at the AMA 5k back in 2005. I ran the last .1 of the race in 28 seconds to pass him and Jeff Surbeck and then I bent over in the chute and threw up on my shoes. We've dueled a few times since then and I think that he may just pull ahead completely pretty soon and leave me WAY behind. Congrats Jordan on a good race!!