So my long tempo run was the first attempt at increasing foot turnover. I didn’t really know what to expect. In practice it was actually painless. Of course, I’m only bumping up a little bit at a time. From my baseline, plodding 156 BPM I started the first half of my scheduled 8 miles at 161 BPM. I warmed up with some butt kickers and high knee raises to get the legs moving and then headed out at the trail with the 161 BPM Podrunner track playing in the Clip+. It was a bit strange at first, making pace determination tricky. I finally got dialed in at the appropriate pace and stride rate, but my breathing was all over the map since it felt like I was working harder.

Eventually I got things sorted out. I was scheduled for an 8:22 pace but was amenable to lower. For the first 4 miles I averaged an 8:07 pace. I felt really good overall. For the back half I kicked it up one notch to 162 BPM. Obviously that’s not going to feel very different over 161, but I figure a gradual increase over my next runs will be easier than big jumps. I was trucking pretty well on the return trip and kicked it up to around 5K pace over the final mile. I finished with an 8:01 average pace over the second half.

So, experiment successful?

There’s a lot to digest with that run. For one thing I haven’t run an actual 10K race in well over a decade or even two. However, I know I broke my PR — seems like it was near 54 minutes — during this 8 mile training run which is pretty amusing to me. I think the biggest mental hurdle I’ll have to leap is my breathing pattern. I mentioned that I typically, on longer runs, have a set breathing pattern I try to maintain.

I hit the next splits in 8:58, 8:59, 8:59, 9:00 and 8:58. That gets us to mile marker 17 and the end of the good portion of the race. The rest of the day was a giant pile of suck. I hit about 17 and a quarter and didn’t feel right. I normally maintain a 2-steps-in-3-steps-out breathing cadence when I’m at pace except for hills. I couldn’t do that anymore.

Well, during this tempo run I was 2-in, 2-out the whole way. And that’s okay. That’s the adjustment I need to make. Prior to this, if I couldn’t maintain my 2-in, 3-out I considered that over-exertion and figured I was about to die. When in fact it’s probably a good thing to increase the oxygen input and carbon dioxide output as I’m going. Trying to force my body to a slower breathing rhythm was likely sapping energy. If I’m going to get faster and maintain faster paces I’ll have to get used to a 2-in, 2-out breathing pattern. And possibly even faster during the sprints at finishes.

Tomorrow is interval day and I’ll likely try to work at 164 or 165 BPM, then get 167-168 on short tempo day on Thursday. I’m fairly excited to see how my body reacts.

Posted Training Days |