Today I went for my last training run before Sunday’s Victoria Park Run 10k, this was going to be a difficult run as it was a 5 mile tempo run. The first mile is the warm-up mile and is run at a slow pace (about 12 minutes), the last mile is your cool down mile and is also run at a slow pace (also about 12 minutes), the three miles sandwiched in the middle are to be run at a much faster average time of 9:53 per mile.
I have attempted this twice in the past and have failed to compete it. The first time I managed the warm-up mile and two of the three fast miles before I gave up. The second attempt saw me complete the warm-up mile and the three fast miles before I gave up.
I don’t know if it was the fact that I had only been on one training run this week and was eager to get out again, or if it was the fact that I was rather motivated, but I managed to complete the entire 5 miles – and in a faster time than I thought.
Here are the times I did and the times I was meant to do in brackets:
Mile 1: 11:26 (12:00)
Mile 2: 9:24 (9:53)
Mile 3: 9:19 (9:53)
Mile 4: 9:22 (9:53)
Mile 5: 11:20 (12:00)
Needless to say that I was ecstatic at not only completing the session, but doing it in a much quicker time – and I still had more left in me.
I think I’m ready to attack this race on Sunday and I am the most confident I’ve ever been that I’ll be able to beat my PB. I’m aiming for 5:55 average pace per Km, which is only a second faster per KM than the race I ran my personal best in.
Photo by Michal Zacharzewski from FreeImages