I wanted to get a tempo in today. As it was sloppy out (melting snow, but still lots of packed ice), and windy (comes with the warmer temps), I hit the treadmill. I have ambitions to get this workout back to the SBC trail. There I will head out (and slightly up) at a slightly slower than 10K pace for 3 or 4 miles, and then come back slightly faster then 10K pace for 3 or 4 miles. When I was doing this a few years ago, it was effective in teaching me to control the effort on the front end and push the effort on the backend. Unfortunately, as I get more fit, I have historically become better equipped to execute poorly. When I am out of shape (or less in shape) I am forced in executing to whatever I am capable of. When I am in better shape, I have this tendency to go out to fast.
In any case, I had aspirations to jump on the mill and bang out six with the first three at six minute pace, and then build from there. Simply, I am not there yet. I could give a dozen excuses, but I am not there yet. That is a bit frustrating, but it is what is. And the good news is that I have progress from where I was last month. I can feel that I am progressing and digging in, it is just not as quick as I like - even though it is steady progress.
I opened with a warm up mile of 7:30, quick bio break (back up the stairs) and then 6:00, 5:57, 5:53. I found it hard to dig into this - similar to the workout earlier this week. It was not overly hard, but I was not strong, or as strong as I would like. My HR was floating in the mid 170s for this. It was not super labored, but not easy and so I backed off here - 6:53, 6:59, and then I ramped it up a notch. The HR had dropped into the 150s, and then I ramped it back to float at 160. It climbed a bit over the run to 163. 6:49, 7:06, 7:06, 6:30. I was not paying attention to the pace in particular after the three but playing with it to keep it solid and keep the HR near 160. This run turned around in just under 67 (about). Again, nothing to brag about, but progress from where I was even a month ago. It is coming. Slowly. But coming
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