A tempo run consists of a one-mile warm-up, a longer distance [three or more miles] at a sustained speed and a one-mile cool-down.
Speed drills include the warm-up and cool-down miles, but the middle distance alternates fast miles with half-mile jogs. It's the interval training idea, but harder. Because even a fast mile, for me, takes 12 minutes and that's a long time to run continuously.
Yesterday I was supposed to do seven miles total, including the first and last non-speed miles. I was supposed to run the miles at an 11:35 pace, with jogs in between. Remember, now, my running speed is a taller person's jogging speed. And remember, too, that I'm a compulsive sort of person with a poor memory. Not only did I have to remember where the mile and half-mile markers were on my route, but I had to try to guess how fast I was going, since I don't have any kind of gear that gives me that information. Like a watch. Heh.
Oh, and I was on a two-mile road, so I thought I'd go ahead and do two round trips. What's an extra mile?
The key concept here is compulsive. I couldn't just do the drill and hope for the best. I had to do the drill better.
You can call me Wonder Woman from now on. I did eight miles in 90 minutes. That's 5.333333333 mph, or an 11:15 pace for the entire eight miles.
And then I pretty much died for the rest of the day.
Denise, thanks for the McCann's information. I really appreciate knowing that it might make it back on my grocer's shelves. Although with two very large tins already shipped from Honeyville, I won't have to think about that for a long time.
Today, being the first of the month, is when I usually post a then-and-now progress photo. There's been no progress, however, although Mr. Shrinking Knitter thinks my body is rearranging itself. I'm going to wait until May to post another photo, and hope for a continued downward trend of the scale until then.
Fifty-eight days until race day.
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