10.09 mi, 1:22:35, 8:11 avg
Scheduled tempo run of 6 miles @ 7:22 pace, nice cool day out, run didn't go exactly to plan but overall positivie. The 7:22 pace actually should have been adjusted to more like 7:44 due to the duration of the tempo run which would be over 45 minutes (plan times are based on Jack Daniels).
Anyway, warmup was from my house to the Pinellas Trail. My warmup pace was slower than usual, didn't think much of it, figured my legs would turn over better after getting warmed up.
Started the tempo portion, heading south down the Pinellas Trail for a little bit then I'd turn around and head north. The little bit of southbound was to make sure I wouldn't have to cross at the light over Klosterman Road.
I put in effort to get to what I thought would be in the 7:20's but I was stuck pretty solidly at 7:45, trying to speed up made it worse, slowly crept to 7:50. Stopped and paused for a second to regroup after about 0.4 miles, then got going again. Still felt stuck, oh well, just put in the effort and don't worry about the pace. First three miles ended up being 7:44, 7:37, and 7:36. Ok, did get a little bit better. I didn't have this problem at the half marathon.
Planned turn around was going to be a little bit north of the old train tunnel, about 3.5 miles. But, just past the tunnel was greeted by a big orange sign blocking the trail "Trail Closed", took the sidewalk that goes uphill a little bit to Alt 19 (the sidewalk I run down when cutting through Eniswood), I knew I'd lose a little bit of speed going up but could accelerate on the way back down. Reached the top, turned around, back down the sidewalk, hard left southbound onto the trail. Pace showed slower going through the tunnel (down to about 7:55), but then momentum caught up, pace dropped and I finished mile 4 at 7:27 (finally sub 7:30!), then I felt good and kept the momentum to get mile 5 at 7:09. Now I wanted to finish, probably should have aimed for 7:15-7:20 put kept pushing to the end and did mile 6 at 6:56.
Found my gatorade bottle, now covered with ants - brushed them off and headed back towards the house. After an easy mile, picked it up again and without feeling like the same effort I put in for the 7:44 mile, finished last mile in 7:41.
I think my initial warmup was lacking and a few quick strides at goal pace could have eased into things better. Not a disciplined run but there was mileage and effort.
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