Ran up to work late at night to deal with a couple things. On the way home, I ran to Federal Heights Drive, and once I hit Alta Drive (exactly 3 miles into my run), I tempoed the last 3.8 miles of the Haunted Half Course (which I'm running next wekend) + an extra .2 at the end for an even 4 miles of tempo, before jogging one more circuitous mile home. Splits of the 4 miles of tempo were:
1. 6:23 (nasty uphill, average 2% uphill, but most of it shortly after the start in a steep climb, and then a long gradual climb), from Fed Heights / Alta to roughly the Fire station on 11th)
2. 5:36 (nice 2.5% gradual downhill, to roughly 11th and B)
3. 5:39 (nice gradual 2.5% average mostly downhill down Canyon Road and then into Memory Grove's paved trail, but exposed to a swirling wind for a good chunk of it up on the road)
4. 5:23 (nice 4% downhill, inside the trees, no wind, continued through Memory Grove down to 1st Ave and State).
Finished feeling like I had run fast, but with a lot of juice left. Honestly, the hardest mile of the tempo was probably the first one. I run Memory Grove a lot and can get a great rhythm going around all the turns on that 4% grade downhill, so locking into that 5:23 last mile really wasn't actually all that tough.
A few of the miles between 7 and 10 at Haunted Half are going to be pretty brutal, but if I'm feeling decent at mile 10, I should be able to really throw down hard over the last 3 miles.
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