I’ve been runnin – against the wind – I’ve been runnin against the wind.
Last night I set out for seven miles with four at tempo pace and was “delighted” aka devastated to find myself running into a very strong headwind during my warm up mile. I stopped to stretch and turn on DJ Tiesto before picking up the pace and starting the first tempo mile. Of course as I picked up the pace the wind picked up in intensity so I pushed hard thinking that the wind would be slowing me down into the mid 7’s. Since the plan was to run the five miles of tempo without a break I was a bit worried that the wind combined with the extra effort required to maintain a tempo pace would wipe me out. Well, turns out I pushed a bit harder than I thought in the first mile and it came in faster than expected.
Mile 1: 6:28
Once I saw the time I let off the gas a bit since my goal tempo pace is in the 6:45 to 7:00 range. Even though I let up a bit I was still running into a headwind and I was breathing hard from the first mile. I knew I wanted to slow a bit but didn’t want to slow too much this early on in the miles:
Mile 2: 6:57
Ok, that wasn’t so bad and at this point I knew that I only had three left. I told myself that if the fourth mile was total hell I would call it a day there and jog out the last two miles as a cool down. The wind was only a factor on the first half mile since I turned around halfway through the third tempo mile. Once I turned around I noticed an immediate difference and settled into a nice comfortable groove for the rest of mile three and mile four.
Mile 3 & 4: 6:48
Once I had four miles done I knew I could make it through one more but it was pretty tough; the slight incline for the last quarter mile didn’t make any easier either. I hit the mile mark and slowed down to run out the last mile for a cool down.
Mile 5: 6:56
Cool down mile: 7:57
Overall it was a great run and I was pleased with my pace but I learned a good lesson about pushing hard just to spite a headwind. Next time I have to run into the wind I’ll try to remember to scale it back a bit and not burn up too much energy too early in the run. Of course that is much easier said than done.
Monday after work I did 6 easy miles – my average pace came in at 8:07. It was a nice run and I chatted with Jen while she rode her bike along with me. It’s great having someone along with you no matter if they are running or riding and the run went by fairly quickly.
The push ups challenge is going fairly well – I’ve moved onto week four now and the first day was challenging with the following set (21, 25, 21, 21, and a max of 29 of the suggested 32). Last night I moved onto day two of week four which was quite a bit harder. I was able to get the main set done (25, 29, 25, 25) but was only able to do 19 of the suggested 36 for the max. I’ll be doing this week again for sure then it’s time for another test to see how many I can do in a row. My initial test was 25, two weeks later I did 35, so I’m hoping that this time I can do 45. I guess we’ll see what we see.
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9 comments:
you told those winds who's boss! FANTASTIC tempo runs zach! way to push through!
Wind = yuck! You powered through that wind though!
P.S. I think every post title should now have a song reference =).
Push-up show-off!! JK - Great job...I was telling Josh about the challenge - maybe we'll join up :) I might have to do each week 3 times, though! Nice DJ Tiesto ref...
oh how I loathe the wind!!!! Nice tempo run despite it! and I amthinkign I might need ot get on this push-up challenge business so I can get buff arms!
solid run dude... i absolutely hate running in the wind. When it's windy I throw pace out the window and head for the hills.
what pushup challenge are you doning? link?
I love all these song throwbacks in your titles!
GREAT run! Wow, you still nailed the tempo pace, despite the wind....awesome!
And I couldn't do a push-up right now if a million dollars were at stake. :-/ Keep it up!
That's pretty fast. You getting faster real quick. Running into the wind just makes it easier when there's no wind.
WOW great job on that tempo run!!! you nailed it! its sooo nice to have someone riding next to you, whenever chris does it just makes the miles fly by.
I find it interesting that you're able to maintain that swift pace with the relatively low weekly mileage running you appear to do.
You must be very fit all around, as seems to be true with most triathloners.
My issue is I have good long distance endurance but increasing the intensity of my pace has so far been very difficult for me. I'm hoping that more cross training in the form of swimming laps with a kickboard and light weightlifting focusing on the quads glutes and calves will give me the strength to be faster. Harder better faster stronger
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