McMullen Tempo

Time: 79:52

Distance: 19.38k

W/u: 16:19 for 3.31k

W/o: 8 mile tempo between 5:50 and 6:00/mile

C/d: 16:11 for 3.19k

This workout has been blogged about by Meagan and Steve and mentioned on Facebook by Paul and Beigay. I'm just now getting to it because I'm a slacker.

I'm not sure why I felt inclined to jump in this workout because I really just want to be running for the month of July. I guess the thought of putting in solo kilometers along McMullen was too McMahon-esque. I didn't think the pace or the distance was too unreasonable for my current fitness, so in a Boondocks Saint's mixed idiom, I threw caution to the early bird catching the worms.

Meagan and I met Paul, Steve and Mike at McMullen for a light warm up just before a local Team In Training chapter started their run. We all regrouped and kicked off the 8 mile workout that would be out and back right around 7:00 am. I was content to sit toward the back of the group and let Paul and Steve do most of the work. I wanted to keep Meagan in the workout for as long as possible before checking my fitness later on. We stayed together as a group through about the 10k mark when Meagan called it a day (she did run a hard mile to finish up). I rallied from several meters back to catch Paul and Mike who were both having pretty solid runs.

During the 10th kilometer my chest/heart was definitely being tested as I felt some slight discomfort. It eventually subsided and I was able to run the final 2k somewhat more relaxed. In fact, if the pace kicked up a notch the final few minutes, I would have been able to answer the challenge.

Splits: (just for reference 3:45/k is 6:00/mile pace)

3:45, 3:46, 3:43, 3:44, 3:37, 3:44, 3:41,

3:37, 3:37, 3:41, 3:35, 3:34, 3:38 for 47:22 total and 12.88k. 3:40 avg.

The splits aren't anything to brag about, but nice indication of where I'm at. In a few months I hope to run close to that pace on a medium long run done midweek.