A Good Hard (Failed) Tempo Run
>> Sunday, August 14, 2011
... well, it was a PARTIAL success. I'll get to that in a moment.
Earlier today, I went on my first run without Henry in about 12 days. I was curious if pushing the stroller was any harder than running "normally." I headed out for a tempo run along the river. This was the plan:
- Warm up for 1 mile: easy.
- "Build" for another mile: 6:45.
- Then 5 tempo miles with descending splits: 6:15, 6:05, 6:00, and then 2 of sub-6 (hopefully), with a 5-mile tempo time of around 30:10.
- Stop to catch your breath for a minute, and then 1 mile CD: easy.
So here's what I ACTUALLY did:
- WU: 7:10 (downhill)
- "Building" mile: 6:39
- Tempo miles:
- 6:12 - thinking "Sweet, I'm gonna NAIL this workout!"
- 6:25. "Oh crap. That hurt."
- 6:29. "F*ck. Can I blame this on the heat?"
- 6:08. "Better, but I NEED to see sub-6 for the final mile."
- 6:10. ".... or not. Shoot."
- 31:26 for the 5 miles.
Part way through the tempo miles, I answered that question: "Is running with the stroller a lot harder than running without it?" No. Not much different. (Oh, also during the run, I ran into Jen V who said HI on her bike, and someone else who I didn't get a good look at right in the middle of my HARD miles. She shouted "STEVE IN A SPEEDO!" And I was only able to offer up a weak "Hi there!" Who were you, stranger?)
But as I mentioned in the opening line, this is still a "partial success." When the miles got hard, I scaled back my speed INSTEAD of going too hard and having to stop and walk. Having to walk twice at the Waseca Triathlon 2 weeks ago has scared me a little.... I'm NOT against walking, but I don't want to lose track of my perceived effort and ALWAYS have to walk because I ALWAYS go out too hard. So I was OK with easing back a little on this workout. In a week or 2, I'm going to be pushing harder, and THEN I might make it a point to go so hard that I might have to walk. But not today.
So that run (although it was only ONE run) cemented the "sub-60 isn't possible for the TC 10 Mile this year" thoughts in my head. That's not a bad thing - you can't PR every year! This year is definitely more about hanging out with Henry!
And speaking of Henry, here's a photo of him hanging out on my lap this morning in bed:
And a few hours after my run, I took Henry for a 90 minute walk while Pharmie was out on a 12 mile run:
Watching the sunset
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6 comments:
As someone who is quite skilled in the area of jogging strollers, yes, there are times when it really isn't any different than running with it, like if your course is fairly flat. When I run my old neighborhood in MI, it didn't make too much of a difference, but when I headed out on a rolling or hilly course, it makes a HUGE difference in pace. The uphills can be killer. It is a lot rollier here in KY now that we have moved, so my jogging stroller miles are way harder than my indoor treadmill miles (not the case last year when I was in the flatlands, where the mononotony of the treadmill was was worse than the added weight of the stroller). It is all about inertia. Once you get that sucker rolling, it doesn't matter a ton, unless you are on hills and either pushing uphill or downhill. Also, I have noticed wind makes a bigger difference. I do have a 90lb double wide BOB Revolution with a 5 year old and almost 3 year old. I do notice a difference when I switch it up to my single IRONMAN and just my 3 year old.
At what age did Henry start going in the jogging stroller? Everywhere I look says a different age at which its ok, sometimes 6 months?! Maybe it depends on the type of stroller? Henry seems to have been fine in the stroller since just a few weeks!
Yeah, what melissa said! Its all about the hills! And the wind! And when your boy gets to be 30 pounds those hills will be killer!
Hi Mel, yeah, most places say 6 months, but that's just baby in stroller. Since we have the car seat adaptor, his car seat hooks into the stroller, so we've been taking him out since he was a week old. We still tuck burp rags on either side of his head for extra support, but he's getting so big now that he probably doesn't need them.
Yeah, it's a bit harder on the hills, but I've just been running "rolling hills" along the Mississippi.
And Mel: what my wife said. We had him out early on walks, but I didn't know how soon I could start running, or how fast. But I eased into it, and he's FINE in our BOB.
Watch for an "I USE THIS" post about the BOB running stroller in the next few days! :)
STEVE IN A SPEEDO,
Sorry for hollering. I am excitable. Love the blog.
I saw Pharmie and saw your little man (HENRY!) before the LTF tri. Lovely family.
Fun to see you out all there.
-Marianne
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