5.5 miles - Run To Work

My goal for today was a tempo run, 5 miles total. Yesterday evening I realized that my run to work route, being 5.5 miles total, would work. Since I had to have a change of clothes waiting for me at work, I put together a pack of what I needed and dropped it off at my office (which also allowed me to have a delicious dinner downtown).

The weather Friday morning was cool and a bit humid, but no actual rain. Felt about perfect, actually (except for the humidity part but that's Oregon). I wore shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, along with a pack with my cell phone, debit card, bus pass and keys. I wore my nano and had it set to shuffle. It's loaded with my favorite exercising music and picked some great songs.

The idea of a tempo run is to warmup, then to maintain race pace or better for as long as possible, ideally at least 20-30 minutes. Since most of my route is helpfully marked off in half-mile increments for about 3.5 miles, and since my 5K race pace is 9:30 or so (on a great day), that meant that I should be doing about 4:45 half-miles.

After warming up on my way to the first milepost, and stretching out I headed out. The humidity caused a runny nose, which stayed with me the entire run. But my time for the first half-mile was 4:27! That was pretty fast for me. I pushed to try to maintain it, and I did manage to keep a 4:48 or better time for a total of 2.5 miles. For the record here are the times I recorded today:

1. 4:27
   
2. 4:39
   
3. 4:42
   
4. 4:39
   
5. 4:48

Unfortunately that's as far as my energy took me today. I jog/walked for the rest of the distance. But, still, 2.5 miles at an average pace of 9:18 is awesome for me.

Next time I run a tempo run, I'm going to aim for a 9:20 or better pace for 3 miles total. I know I can do it.