Five Mile Tempo Run in Fornham St Martin Suffolk

Wednesday in my training schedule usually calls for a tempo or speed interval run which I always look forward to. It's something different from the usual easy paced runs which make up most of the rest of the week. Of course it is also a chance to test yourself and to see how the training is going.

My run today consisted of a warm up mile , five miles tempo and warm down mile. I ran the same course as Monday following the route around Fornham offering as it does a 7 mile course with not to many roads to cross where you can get stopped by the traffic.

After two days of snow and sleet the weather was mild , in fact possibly the warmest day of the year at about 8c. I only wore one layer for the first time this year- a sweat shirt and tracksters and my Asics Gel Stratus 3. If anything the sweat shirt was a little too heavy and a thiner thermal top would have been adequate as I got warm on this run.

My warm up mile was run in 8.35. I then paused and set the IPOD to music rather than running podcasts. I am sure I run faster when listening to music rather than speech. On the IPOD I had The Ramones, The Beatles, Jimmy Eat World, The Saints, The Lillingtons, Joy Division, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach Boys, Editors and The Jam.

With the music belting out I was able to tackle the tempo run. The schedule called for 5 miles at 7.54 mile pace. I was happy with what I did achieve though I didn't hit this pace my mile splits show 7.48,8.12,8.09,8.19 and 8.28. So my 1st mile was under target but I then slipped back to over 8 minute miles averaging out at 8.12 miles for a total of 40.58 for the 5 miles. I felt good and comfortable for 3.5 miles but then had to grit my teeth for the last 1.5 as my times showed I tired particularly for the last half mile.

When I tired I had reached my lactic threshold maximum. Tempo runs  create lactic acid in the muscles and eventually you do begin to slow. Running at tempo pace often enough should help train the body in dealing with lactic acid. As it will make the body more efficient in removing lactic acid from the muscles.

Thats good news because next time I  run, I shouldn't  build up as much lactic acid in the muscles as the last time I ran at that same pace. The body will be able to get rid of lactic acid faster too. At least thats what I have read.

I warmed down for a mile and half feeling that this was a really worth while session and has helped overcome some of the disappointment of not racing on Sunday.