Grooved to Run

Today was Week 2 Day 3 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan… my first tempo run:

This is a continuous run with an easy beginning, a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace, then ease back and cruise to the finish. A typical tempo run would begin with 5-10 minutes easy running, continue with 10-15 faster running, and finish with 5-10 minutes cooling down.

I did a 10-10-10 tempo, covering 3.09 miles in 30:00 (9:43/mi average pace). Jogged 0.94 mi in the first 10 minutes (10:37/mi), ran 1.16 miles in the next 10 minutes (8:38/mi), and then cooled down over the next 0.99 mi in the last 10 minutes (10:07/mi). Burned about 460 calories.

According to the McMillan Running Calculator, my 10K pace is 8:57/mi so that was my target for the middle 10 minutes. I was a bit faster than that (8:38), so I seem to have done pretty well.

Definitely a tough workout, but I survived. :)