Non-Dizzy Wednesday Tempo Run

Normally, I try to think up a good lead. Today, you get this inspired sentence: Yesterday was my tempo run.

I was feeling dizzy all morning! At first I thought I drank too much coffee, but I only had one cup. Then I thought it was because I was hungry, but I ate and I was still dizzy. So I wasn’t sure how I was going to go running. I decided I would go during my lunch hour anyway and, if I was dizzy while running, I would stop and come back to work.

To be honest, I didn’t want to go outside. It was dark, a little windy and raining. But I weighed my options: disgusting weather vs. treadmill. The thought of the treadmill was enough to convince me to go outside.

And, as it turned out, I was not dizzy while running. So weird.

My Run Less Run Faster training plan called for a 1 mile warm up, 1 mile at my Short Tempo pace (which is 8:13), 1 mile easy, 1 mile @ ST pace, 1 mile easy, 1 mile @ ST pace, and a 1-mile cool down. In my head, I thought I could do all 7 miles on my lunch hour. In fact, I thought I could at least do 6 by simple reducing the easy miles to half-miles.

But I forgot to factor in changing time. Even though I wore my leggings, sports bra and running shirt underneath my work clothes, it still took me almost 10 minutes to get out of the office – and I needed at least 5 minutes to change back into my work clothes after my run. I have 60 minutes for lunch and I don’t like to go over that by more than a minute or two (none if I can help it). After my first tempo mile, I realized 6 wasn’t going to happen, so I decided to do last week’s tempo run again instead.

Mile 1: warm up

Mile 2: 1 mile @ 8:13 pace. Actual pace was 8:14. As I said on DailyMile, this pace isn’t too bad for me. It’s challenging, but doable, especially once I get into a rhythm (breathing and legs).

Mile 3: 1 mile @ 8:13 pace. Actual pace was 8:16. This mile sucked because the sky just opened up and poured. I was already pretty wet, but after that, I was soaked through to the skin.

Mile 4: 1 mile @ 8:09. This faster pace was accidental. The RLRF plan advises against running faster than the prescribed time. I failed to reset my watch after Mile 3, so the “average pace” field was showing me an 8:12, but since Mile 3 had been a little bit slower, I had to run Mile 4 a little bit faster to get that 8:12. I should’ve reset my watch so I could’ve seen my true average pace for Mile 4.

Mile 5: 1 mile cool down. The rain let up a little and I felt good. I wanted to try for a little extra mileage, but with a mile to go, it was already 12:16 and I need to be back in my desk chair at 12:30. Got honked at — a double-beep.

Usually, I try to think of a creative way to end my post or a I pose a question or, at least, try to tie the end to the beginning. Today, you get the double-beep.