Friday, September 16, 2005

7.2 miles (some at tempo pace) yesterday, Shoreline park

Thursdays are days of moderately long hard runs. Yesterday evening we were to do 7 miles "tempo". Pradeep had once explained to me what that means: run about 2 miles for warm-up, then run fast for about 2-3 miles (whatever you can do) at your tempo pace, and then cool down in the last 2 miles. It is to be noted that the warm-up and cool-down are not at the usual excruciatingly slow pace (typically 13-14 min/mile) of pre-run warmup or post-run cooldowns. They are more like 30s-60s slower than your average Saturday long run pace. As for tempo pace, from whatever I have read, there seem to be various ways to arrive at it. Some people say that it is about 60s slower than your tracks pace. Some others call your tempo pace to be your 5K pace, i.e., the pace at which you will run when competing in a 5K (3.125 miles) race. But I find this test the best: if while running you are breathing hard enough so that the breathing-in process lasts for only two steps of running, then you are at your tempo pace. (You will notice that usually you take 3-4 steps while breathing in.) For example, I usually reach this kind of breathing at about 8.30 min/mile pace. This also happens to be ~1:20 min/mile slower than my pace at the tracks.

Manish and I were to meet at 6pm, but owing to some confusion, he had finished his warm-up by the time I started mine. Both my lower legs were still hurting, but were better than Wednesday. The shin of my left leg was still not feeling great. I did the mile-long warm up slow, and felt that the lower legs (shin, achilles, lower calf) were hurting a bit, and certainly not giving me a smooth stride.

At this time I also ran across Gomati and Medha, who were running on the same trail but had started on Easy St. Anyhow, I stopped after the warm-up and stretched for about 8-minutes. My plan now for the remaining 6 miles was to do about 10.30 min pace for the first 2 miles, and then do the next mile at tempo pace (the route I was to take was the same one as in the Monday run). After turning around at the 3 mile point, do the 4th mile at tempo pace and then drop the pace to 10:30 again for the last two miles. However, I found myself running the first half a mile at 11:30 minute pace (lower legs were not feeling happy), but still managed to finish the first mile in about 11 min. In preparation for the tempo run, I sped up a bit and probably did 10 min for the next mile (the mile markers end in about 1.5 miles after the start, making it hard to maintain accurate time per mile). I was now on a very narrow dirt trail with bushes one one side and grass on the other. The bay was hardly 5 feet away. Abhay Bhushan (my mentor before he had to unfortunately pull out of injury) had first introduced me to this portion of the trail, and I had loved it since then. I probably did 8:30 pace for only half a mile before this portion ended and I was back on the usual asphalt, now on my way towards Michael's cafe. Besides my hurting shin, the wind was very strongly against me and I was also feeling the need to take a leak. I arrived at the restrooms across the bridge (on a small creek) in 30:32 after the start. As this is ~3.1 miles, my pace had been better than 10 min/mile, which I thought was okay.

After a 2 minute restroom break, I started again but could not run at tempo pace immediately. I had to go slow for about a mile until again I was on the narrow dirt trail portion that is 5 ft from the bay. This time the wind was helping me and I took off. The narrow straight trail makes it easy for the mind to focus and the surroundings (the sight of the bay outstretched all the way to Fremont along with the wind making tiny waves on its surface). I think I must have done about 8:30 pace for that stretch (which is about 0.9 miles). As I turned back into asphalt for the last 1.5 miles that also has mile markers, I wanted to continue running at that same pace to get an idea of my speed using the mile markers. This trickery allowed me to continue my tempo pace for another mile. I had done this mile in 8:30. I then relaxed a bit in the last half a mile and was back at the starting point in a total of 61 minutes. Take two minutes of the restroom break out and I had done 6.2 miles in 59 minutes, at 9:30 pace. The run back was 3.1 miles in 28:30 at 9:10 pace. Counting the slow warm-up before the stretch, I had completed my 7 miles (and had actually done 7.2) of the day :-)

When I came back, Manish had already finished his stretching and was just waiting for me to come back and give him his keys (that he had left in my car). I did the usual stretches and it was time to head home. Since we had started a bit earlier than usual at 6pm, I was back home in pretty decent time (8.10pm).

And now, ladies and gentleman, it is time for the 22 miler Saturday morning. Drumrolls and coconut-breaking ceremonies please....

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