Tempo Run

I had been doing 1 speed day a week earlier in the year, but it didn't seem to be helping too much.  With only 1 day, I was only able to stress one part of my cardiovascular system (like VO2 max with intervals or lactate threshold with a tempo run) per week, and I didn't get the results I'm used to.  In the past, I felt like 2 speed days a week was too much, but I see now that even if I don't have a wonder workout, it's worth it to try twice a week.

On Tuesday, I did some intervals.

Due to my recent performance, I didn't really have a goal in mind as I didn't know what to expect.  I ended up doing 5:00 fast, 3:00 easy, 4:00 fast, 3:00 easy, 3:00 fast, 2:00 easy etc. stepping down a minute each time.  I ended up with a total of 15:00 at I pace, which isn't too bad.  I would really like to consistently do over 20 minutes though. Not all that long ago I was able to do 4x(5:00@6:53, 3:00@9:30), so in the next couple weeks I'd like to get back to that.

Today, I set out to do 3 miles at tempo pace.

Due to my sketchy performances, sometimes I'm not quite so sure what my tempo pace is anymore, so I basically said I needed to run under 8:00, and each mile had to be fast than the last.  The reason for this last part is so that I didn't go out too fast to begin with.  I didn't care if I had to break up the 3 miles into 3 separate cruise intervals or run them straight through; I just wanted to make sure I got 3 miles in at a good pace.  I ended up doing 2 miles at 7:46 and 7:37 respectively, then a 3:00 break, followed by my last mile at 7:24.  I'm pretty happy with this.  Since I've been so inconsistent, I haven't made much progress, but this workout also shows that I haven't lost too much either.  Next week I'll try to do  3 miles at a similar pace, but no break in between.  I'd like to build up to being able to do 5 miles or so at this pace, and then start working on bringing the speed up a bit.