Tempo nor'easter

Today my goal was to do a 9-minute-per-mile tempo run. A nice easy tempo for my first of the year.

It was raining when I decided to go out this morning. It was also 50-sum degrees and windy. Which meant I had some problems as far as dress.

It’s easy enough when you’re going for a jog to just throw on your Under Armor suit and go. But when racing or going at tempo pace, you’ll get hot quickly. Yet, it was still chilly, so I couldn’t go in just t-shirt and shorts as is my other usual on days like this or my muscles would get tight from the cold. So I compromised and went for t-shirt and UA tights.

Once Band-Aids were in place, I headed out. As is usual with the start of a tempo for me, I had no clue as to what pace I was going at, so I picked it up more.

Mile one came in at 8:16. Way off my planned pace, but rather nice for the wind and rain.

Being me, I deduced that I had probably started slowing down (I was feeling a tad slow) so I picked it up more. Also being me, I always fail in realizing that I’m not slowing down, my body is just adapting to the speed. Quite a useful bit when in a race, not as good when trying to go at a certain pace.

At about the 1.5 mile-mark, I was starting to feel tired again. Though my two-mile split showed me that I was still going faster than planned pace: 16:36, or 8:20 for the mile. Four seconds slower than the last mile, but I was heading into the wind, up hills and my shirt felt like I had taken a shower in it.

I turned around. Half of my run completed. The wind was now at my back, and I was cruising on a slight downhill stretch.

I dashed through the 3-mile mark in 24:36, 8:00 for the mile, and opened up my stride to carry my the final mile back home.

As I rounded corners, the wind was back at my front, but I could barely feel it. I pounded up the hills and sprinted the last quarter-mile stretch towards home. I crossed the finish line in a time of 32:39, 8:03 mile, 3:21 off of my planned time.

At the end, I hopped on the scale, and found out that my clothes weighed in at around 2 pounds! But if that’s the price I have to pay for doing my tempo in the rain, I’ll do it again. And again.

Run on!

~Darkness