Sunday, January 30 - Tempo

The Run 9am Shelby Park

Running a 1/2 marathon is about being able to sustain a "pretty hard" pace for 13.1 miles, so our workouts must reflect that fact.  That is why we will incorporate 3 tempo runs into our Sunday morning training sessions.  "Tempo" runs are runs of 20 minutes or longer that are done at an 85-90% effort level.  20 minute tempo runs should be done at about 25 seconds slower than 5-k pace, and you should slow down as the length of the run increases.  For us, our pace will be between 35 and 50 seconds per mile slower than your time trial from last week.  (Easy runs are 90 - 120 seconds slower than your 3-mile pace.  Check out this post from last week if you need some help developing your paces from last week's 3-mile time trial.  Or check out the MacMillan Training Calculator.)

Now it is also important that we learn to run this pace at the END of a race.  So we are going to tempo at the end of our runs this week:

Novice: 2 miles easy + 3 miles tempo + 1 mile easy

Intermediate: 3 miles easy + 4 miles tempo + 1 mile easy

Advanced: 4 miles easy + 5 miles tempo + 1 mile easy

As with every run, slowly build your speed.  Warm up very easily, and when you begin your tempo running, allow your pace to slowly increase so you can finish faster than you started.  We'll do these runs on the greenway, since every quarter mile is marked and it is easy to monitor your pace.

*** Super important - it is better to err on the side of too slow than the side of too fast!

KIPP Academy

KIPP's track team is getting ready to start.  Last year, we raised money to get them uniforms and warm-ups - but most of the kids still practiced in their school clothes.  So this year, we are having a clothing drive. We need you to search through your closets and pull out all your old running clothes, race t-shirts, sports bras, shorts etc...  Better yet, pull out all your running clothes that are too small (KIPP is a middle school...), and bring them this Sunday, or next Wednesday.

Brunch

Duane-o is hosting this week.  414 North 17th street.   (The North part is important!)  If you can, please sign up to bring something - here is the brunch sheet.

See you on Sunday!

Mark