58F, cloudy, a breeze drizzle shower, light wind. Tempo run: 3E, 4T (goal pace 8:30), remainder E. Tempo splits: 8:40, 8:37, 8:28, 8:28. That was hard. Horribly hard. I would rather do a 20 miler every other day than this workout, but that won't get me what I want, will it? So yay for me! The legs got tired, but the worst was not having enough oxygen. Is that significant?
After warming up by running over to the Heights and back, I wanted to get this workout done on relatively flat ground. So I ran laps up one side and down the other of Ridge St., between Fairway and Baker. It's not flat, but it's the pretty close, with a little rise at one end and not more than 1% grade on the rest. During this time, I didn't look at the Garmin very much, just a few checks to make sure I was below 9:00. I tried to concentrate on running as fast and efficiently as I could run without breathing faster than 2-2 (steps in, steps out). I also tried to think about running as fast as I thought I could maintain for half an hour. Nearly the entire time, I thought I wasn't going to make it (ie that I would have to slow down). When the 4 miles were finally done I almost wanted to cry I was so happy to have done it. But I also felt completely spent; I wanted to collapse in a heap by the sidewalk. I walked for about a minute, then slow-jogged, and finally got back to 10:30ish miles to finish. I really got lucky with the weather today, for my first long tempo run ever. Yesterday was so hot and muggy. Between about 5 PM and 8 PM last night the temperature quickly plummeted, the wind kicked up and the clouds rolled in. Hallelujah! Well, I'd better go get myself clean and see what last minute housework I can do before my MIL gets here. Thanks, everyone, for your encouragement yesterday. It helped a lot. :)
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