Wednesday Early Morning Tempo

Run type: Tempo (lactate threshold)
Total distance: 18.35 km; Tempo distance: 10.75 km
Average pace: 4:23/km; Tempo average pace: 3:55/km
Weather: 17 degrees and clear
Last night sleep: 5:45, sound

Well, this was a funny old run. Fumbled around at home for a while. Not really enough sleep (which I have decided to start recording--got the idea from Vat_Man's and Mister G's blogs). Bowels were somewhat disoriented from yesterday's barium meal (what a stupid name...sort of evokes silver trays and gravy boats!!) and I sat on the throne for a few minutes with no action.

I had a bit of honey and finally got out the door at 5:30. Then running felt pretty ordinary. Some of those leg niggles are persisting and I almost felt unbalanced. If I was a car I'd say I needed a wheel alignment. But I had set my mind on doing a tempo run and so resolved to run pretty slowly to and from the park. That was almost out of my control anyway for the first part as I stumbled in at just a tad faster than 5:20/km pace.

But by the time I'd gotten there I'd warmed up and was feeling better. Stopped and stretched for a little and then just bit the bullet, clicked the watch and took off. The first km, up the hill, was at 4:06/km pace, but from then on I didn't have a split slower than 4:00/km. I was probably going a bit lactic up the hill, especially after the first one, as my breathing became fairly laboured. But everywhere else it was a hard but manageable pace, and if I went a bit lactic up the hill, I recovered somewhat on the downhill section, even when running at 3:52/km.

The really tantalising thing was that I really settled into the pace, and when I finished, I felt I could have easily kept going at that pace. I think it would have been a job to hold it right through for a half-marathon, but that's what I was thinking about and I think I could have managed it without too much of a fade. That means I would have been a strong chance to break 84 minutes, and if I didn't fade at all, then even 83 minutes. So, I don't know if you can count self-managed time trials, but I am really tempted to have a crack at a half at that pace at the end of next week.

The run home felt like a jog, but was actually 4:44/km. So, a little bit of a mixed bag, but a lot more positives than negatives.