LM warmup (10 reps), 11 miles in 1:19:02, 7:11/mi, HR 157, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 5 Tempo miles in 6:03 (down), 6:49 (up), 6:51 (up), 6:28 (rolling), 6:13 (down), 6:29/mi average, 3 mile cooldown. PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching. Cloudy and cool (56F). A good night's sleep but I was still pretty tired this morning. Hamstrings and quads felt a bit sore during the warmup & strides. Jumped into the tempo aiming to focus on effort and not pace, especially after my last disastrous attempt at a 5 mile tempo run 2 weeks ago. Somehow I managed it....stayed away from watch watching and just kept the effort honest. My legs were pretty tired and ready to be done by the end of the tempo....didn't even really want to run the 3 cooldown miles. So here it is. Logically, I know running tempo's on courses with terrain that's not flat (and has two 180s) will be slower than the same effort tempo on the flats. I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around how much. 4-ish weeks ago back in pancake-flat VA, I ran a 4 mile tempo at ~ 6:15/mi average. Today on a double out and back course (so zero overall elevation gain/loss) with some relief to it (nothing more than a 2-3% grade at the most), I'm 14 seconds/mile slower. That just seems like a lot. The $64,000 question: Does the terrain account for all of that time or is something else negatively impacting me? Anyone? | 