Yesterday after class, I hit the gym in an attempt to do my first tempo run. I've always heard the term thrown around before when referring to training but I realized yesterday that I didn't know what a tempo run actually was. Thanks to Runner's World, I learned that a tempo run (also known as a lactate-threshold run) is a run performed at a "comfortably hard" pace used to enhance speed. By increasing your lactate threshold, you increase the time where your body tires at a certain pace. A "classic" tempo run usually involves around 15 minutes of warm-up, followed by at least 20 minutes at a "challenging but manageable" pace, and wrapped up with a 15 minute cool-down.
Not having any idea how challenging this would be for me, I went in to the gym with this plan and decided I would adjust it as needed once I started running:
- 15 minute warm-up at 5.8
- 20 minute run at 6.5
- 15 minute cool-down at 5.5
This ended up being WAY too difficult for me and this is what I actually did:
- 15 minute warm-up at 5.8
- 20 minute run at 6.4
- 15 minute cool down: 5 minutes at 5.3; 10 minutes at 3.8
My ending stats:
- 50 minutes 8 seconds
- 4.73 miles
- 621 calories
I was ok with the fact that I couldn't do my original plan because I really had no idea what to expect going into it. I am definately going to slow down the pace a little in my next tempo run so that I can run the entire time and then slowly start increasing the speed.
After my run I went home and took the most glorious nap of my life :) When I woke up, Eric and I hit the road for Big Rapids to go to a party that a friend of ours was having. Every year around Valentine's Day, she has one of those "marker" parties where everyone wears a white t-shirt and then writes and draws things on each other's shirts. It was a blast!
For those who are wondering, my shirt says "heart breaker." ;)
I learned a valuable lesson last night: Never go to a party hungry, especially when there is chip dip there that tastes so good you are convinced that it might actually be crack.
I really need to work on that whole willpower thing. Maybe then I could actually knock off a couple of those el-bee's that I've put on over the last three weeks.
This morning I woke up and had half of this Clif bar:
Then Sarah, Eric and I went to Bob Evans for some b-fast. I got the fruit and yogurt crepe:
And it came with this oatmeal:
The crepe was delicious and I gobbled it all up, but the oatmeal was plain and boring. It didn't taste very good so I only ate about 1/3 of it.
Well that's my weekend so far! I just made plans to go down to Battle Creek tonight to hang out with Pam so I've gotta go tackle the day's to-do's before I head out :) Have a great rest of the weekend!
Questions!
Do you ever do tempo runs? How do you normally do them (time, treadmill, outside, etc)? Any tips?
Have you ever been to a marker party or something similar?
Do you ever struggle with willpower? Or is it pretty easy for you to say no to something that you know you shouldn't do/eat/etc?
