Tempo run. 2 miles warm-up, 5(ish) miles @ 15K-1/2M pace, 2+miles cool-down. 4:55 am, 30°F, 81% humidity, winds calm, light snow, but no significant accumulation. The battery on my Garmin was dead. I should have checked it after Saturday's long run. But at least I realized it before I headed out the door, so I wore my heart-rate monitor watch (though not the chest strap) to use as a stop watch. However, I am not very experienced with that watch, so I didn't really get it going properly until I started the tempo portion. I was going to invent a new route on the fly today, but I couldn't since I didn't have my Garmin. I had to run a route that I knew the distance of and at least had a rough idea of where the splits were. I think I did a good job estimating the split locations for the first 4 miles of the tempo portion, but then I cut the last tempo mile a little bit short, and ended up with a total tempo distance of 4.88 miles instead of 5 miles. Oh well. I figure my average pace on the tempo portion was 8:03 and my average pace overall was 8:38. This week's proprioceptive due is "Pulling the Road." Here is the description from Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald: "Image that your running route is like a giant nonmotorized treadmill. On a nonmotorized treadmill, you are able to run in place by pulling the treadmill belt backward with your feet. Envision yourself doing the same thing with the road as you run outdoors. You're not actually moving forward--you're simulating forward movement by pulling the road behind you with each foot. This proprioceptive cue will teach you to begin generating thrust earlier, stiffen your stride, and minimize ground contact time." I found that on the few occasions that I remembered to think about this cue while I was running today, it sped me up a bit until my mind wandered again.
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