First Tempo Run

This morning was my first foray into tempo running. As I train for the PF Chang's Marathon in January, I want to run a mixture of long runs, tempo runs and speed work on the track. I'm not sure I did a dictionary-definition "tempo run," but it was different than my usual run. I warmed up with a quick walk around the block and then did some stretching. I did the first mile at a "light jog." This might have been the most difficult part. Keeping my pace to 10:30 or 11:00 is well nigh impossible. Once I warmed up, I set out to keep my pace right around 8:00 for a full mile. At first, I felt sore from the long run we did on Monday. But after a short while, my legs loosened up and felt good. I pushed through the burning in my lungs and kept up a 7:45 pace for a full mile. Whew! After that, I slowed down for the next mile (about a 9:50 pace). As I wended my way through the Encanto-Palmcroft neighborhood, I noticed a beautiful black Jaguar whose roof had been caved in when a tree fell on it during that intense thunderstorm last week. What a shame! After a slow mile, I picked up my pace for the final 1/2 mile, keeping a fairly consistent 7:50 pace. It was definitely fun to do a different kind of running. I'm going to read more about tempo runs in the books I have to make sure I'm doing 'em correctly. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1089 ft Location: Phoenix, AZ Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 09/03/08 Up/Downhill: [+13/-9] Time: 06:26 AM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.35 miles Time: 0:31:00 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 15 /mi Calories: 499 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 37 +1' 22 5.7 -0.8 -6 ft 2 7' 45 -1' 30 7.7 +1.3 +6 ft 3 9' 55 +0' 40 6.0 -0.4 0 ft end 8' 13 -1' 02 7.3 +0.8 +3 ft Versus average of 9' 15 min/mile

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