Failed Tempo Run

It's been a out-of-the-ordinary week.

Last week was supposed to be my every-other-week speed workout, but I pushed it back as I was going to move my long run up by a day based on my schedule. My wife worked last weekend, so I took the boys up north for a few days. It was their spring break. I dropped a hammer on my left knee while working on a treehouse for the boys (more on the treehouse soon), and I think I brusied it somewhere "inside." Then I banged it on the tree. Ouch. Damn. Then the next day was this run, and it still hurt.

BUT... those aren't excuses. Just acknowledging that I shouldn't be surprised that this "weird" run happened at the end of a "weird" week.

Yesterday I hit the treadmill for a hard 5K effort. I did the same back in Feb, and I noted this in a blog post:

For this 5K effort, I started at 10.3 mph, and then bumped it up every half mile: 10.3, 10.4, 10.6, 10.8, 11.0, 11.1 for a bit around mile 2.5+, and then 11.0 for the final half mile or so.

That was 17:24.17 for 3.1 miles. THAT WAS HARD. I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN FOR A WHILE.

Well, it was time to do it again. I started at 10.4 mph this time, and then 10.6, 10.8, and 11.0 for the first 4 half-mile splits. Then I was just going to see what I could do for the last 1.1 miles, but I only lasted 0.6 miles. Nothing totally gave out - I was just done. Just pooped from a hard, unusual week. I ran a fast 2.6 miles instead of a fast 3.1 miles.

My half-mile splits were 2:53, 2:49, 2:46, 2:43, 2:43, and 0:32 (0.1 miles) which totals 14:29.12 (5:34.28/mile). So I was on pace to beat my 5K time from 2 months ago, but I couldn't hold the pace. (I was 2.5 seconds faster/mile this time through 2.6 miles.)

I think I'll skip a bike ride this weekend to let that sore knee rest. Happy Easter!