Today was the kind of run I had been avoiding for almost 2 years, The Tempo run !
I have never been a fast runner and I have no ambitions to become one so I have tended to avoid any sort of speed run , except for the occasionall Fartlek which I enjoy !
However , over the last few months my running has become stale !
I have been plodding along at the same old distance and pace and definitely not progressing.
So a few weeks ago now I decided it was time for a change !
Embrace the hills , do some intervals, do some speed work , and equally as important, do some strength work also .
So I have been doing mostly NRC runs and today was a Tempo run .
I was dubious!
Should I have been ? No not really!
It's certainly NOT flat out speed , however a pace that can (or should) be able to be maintained , so we are talking a 6 or 7 effort perhaps.
This was fine at first after the 7 minute warm up run at an easy pace , but as the minutes progressed it became a little tougher to maintain and at times I needed to back off a little.
So, am I disappointed? No !
I just realise my tempo pace needed to be slightly less , or does it ?
Maybe next time it will be fine if I continue to mix and match my runs and continue with the strength training that is the James Dunne 30 day challenge!
I have completed day 6, so that's the first stage done ( or Dunne) ๐
And I already can feel a little improvement in my running form .
So although I didn't manage to maintain tempo for the whole run today, it's certainly heading in the right direction and these challenges are certainly helping to get me out of the door more frequently.
And for me, that's what it's all about !
Happy running ๐๐