Week One, Done

There's a certain satisfaction in precisely following the training plan. Maybe that's just oldest child syndrome (I am the oldest of three), or maybe it's nice to put my faith in a plan that's promising me a nice fast marathon in January. Either way, it's a nice sense of accomplishment.

This week got off to a rocky start - I went to Memorial Park after work on Tuesday to knock out a tempo run - a mile warm up, three miles at an 8:04 minute/mile pace, a mile cool down. I managed one mile at that 8:04 pace, and then just got the remaining three miles of my run done. I chalked that up to all the fitness I lost the two weeks I was laid up with the knee -- and I know it'll be easier next week.

A tempo run, by the way, helps a runner run fast for a distance. It's different from an interval workout. That's when the runner sprints and recovers, sprints and recovers, to increase foot turnover, improve the response of fast twitch muscles and increase VO2 max, which is basically how much and how fast the lungs supply oxygen to the bloodstream during exercise.

I hate both workouts, the tempo run and the speed interval workout, but they always pay off. That's how I knocked my 5k time from about 25:15ish, where I had plateaued in 2005, to 22:34, my personal 5k record in 2006.

Friday, I did six miles at a 9:13 pace (the plan said 9:15, so right in the ballpark). Sunday, I hit the gym and the treadmill - because it was raining - for 5 miles at a 9:00 pace.

Easy peasy, right?

Comments

[Charles]

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