Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Not So Tempo

After racing Sunday, I was not ready to get up early Monday morning for a tempo run, so I didn’t. I planned to run it after the kids went to bed that night instead.
While Casey was at gymnastics, Bryce started complaining that his head hurt. I told him that if he skipped football practice he had to go home and to bed, no TV. He said he needed a rest. We got home at 5:00 and he crawled into bed and did not wake up until 7:00. He said he felt much better.
In the meantime, Ronnie and Casey were cleaning up his golf cart so I took the opportunity to get my run in.
The plan called for 2 easy, 3 at ST, and 1 easy. Only I remembered the plan wrong. I thought it said 2 miles easy, 2 at ST, and 1 easy.
I headed out between rain showers. The two easy I ran in 9:44 and 9:40. Then it was time to pick it up. My legs felt like lead. I really tried to hit pace and just couldn’t make my legs go. I ran the 2 tempo miles at 8:59 and 8:42, nowhere close to target pace. I could NOT have run another tempo mile even if I had known I was suppose to. When my Garmin beeped 4 miles I slowed to a walk to catch my breath then started back to a slow jog. The last mile took 10:00. I felt like I could have run another easy mile and almost did but Casey wanted to go for a walk. I stopped by the house and got her. We were about 6 houses away when it started to rain. We turned around and jogged back home just as it really started raining hard.

This morning I met Tracy for a ride. We started at the Rec Center and did the Normandy loop. It has been a while since we have done this route and the dogs must have forgotten us. They all barked and chased again today. One dog almost got hit by a UPS truck. We rode the 19.48 miles in 1:14:34.

Friday when Lana and I were going to for our lake swim, we talked about doing the Gulf Coast Tri in May. Then at the race Sunday, Joe mentioned it and said I should think about doing it. Tom has done it before and says it is a great one. Joe wants me and Lana to do it so that we can all train/support each other. I am just scared that I can not be ready for that kind of distance (1.2, 56, 13.1) in 8 months.

4 comments:

Phil said...

Michele ... what did you expect this morning? You just completed a PR for an OLYMPIC distance Triathlon on Sunday, took one rest day on Monday and THEN tried to do another intense workout on Tuesday? Even you need a little down time between hard workouts. I wouldn't have recommended any more than a 5 to 10 mile easy run for the next few days to give your legs some time to recovery.

You had an amazing race on Sunday. Your 55 and change on the 10K after pounding on the peddles for well over an hour was much better than most of us could ever hope for. I've only run two multi-sport events and both times, I waddled like a duck for 5 or 10 minutes after I got off the bike. I don't think I ever got my pace below a 9 min/mi pace like you did.

Get in a few more days of easy runs and a few more bike rides. Your legs will thank you and you won't have any more trouble with those tempo runs.

MNFirefly said...

Hang in there! You are doing great!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

I hate tempo runs!!!!! I'd rather do the intervals or long runs anyday.

Papa Louie said...

I love tempo runs and would rather do them intead of intervals. Yesterday was the only day I ran my 10X400 intervals near pace time. I was suppose to run them 1:13 per 400 but I averaged 1:15. It's hard. Thursday I run 8 miles at PMP. Should be no problem. Have fun.