Hard Workouts

Saturday I went for the weekend long run. I planned a 22 mile route that would take me down the East River, across the Queensboro and back to Manhattan, two loops of Central Park and then back up the East River. It felt good all the way, never labored. I probably started just below 8 min/miles and got faster once I hit the park. I finished the run with a 7:12 min/mile average. I probably should have included some marathon pace miles in there, but all in all I felt good and was pleased with the run. Weather was perfect for running sunny and high 40s.

I ran later on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to rest a bit more from the long run, since I had scheduled a tempo run for Sunday. I would normally ran it earlier in the week (Thursday) but somehow it just did not happen. I was not sure how fast I could sustain the tempo with so little rest, so my goal was to average in the 6:20s. Entering from the Harlem Meer I started running counterclockwise, once I went over the Harlem Hill I started my 5 mile tempo. The first mile was the hardest and slowest one at 6:09. I got more comfortable with the run hitting 6:04, 6:08, 6:08 and 5:54 (big downhill) respectively. At the end I was spent, but I could have ran one more mile. I was back to where I started at the Harlem Meer, however, so it was time to go home.

Monday I just took it completely off -- I did not even hit the gym. I was tired and lazy. This morning (Tuesday) Robert and  I had our regular speed workout. We agreed on doing 200-400-600-800-600-400-200 meters instead of the usual 8x400m. He has more speed than I do and usually use him as a target, but this morning he was not giving 100%, so I found myself leading most of the reps which made them slower than usual. No big deal really. We both have races this weekend (10K for me and 5K for him), so taking it easy was a good call.