tempo your way to race fitness

Using Tempo Runs to Boost Fitness & Confidence

Not every workout is designed to be a grand slam home run.  But a few timely workouts can feel as if they are a Game 7 winner.  For Rob, that was the case with his tempo – it solidified that his hamstring was feeling 100% and signified the amount of progress he has made.  His race pace just a few years ago is now his tempo pace in January!  Below, you’ll find his recap of his week.

After running 4 races in one day, I noticed that my right hammy was a little tight. Reported it to coach Marc quickly and we took things nice and easy for a week, before adding in some strides this week and today’s tempo as a little “test” to see where I’m at and how the leg is recovering. 

Tempo Workout

I was assigned a 2-4-2 tempo, with the middle 4 miles in 6:25s. Started easy from the store, and the splits for the tempo portion were 6:34, 6:20/12:55, 6:14/19:09, 5:46/24:55 for an average of 6:14 for the tempo portion.

I was looking forward to seeing what I had in the tank at the end of a long week (LR on Monday; almost 11 miles yesterday; life in general) and whether or not I could push the hamstring a little. What I was most impressed with was the way I finished, albeit on a slight downhill. To put this “workout” in perspective, my PR for a 4 miler was set in Feb 2013 – almost exactly 4 years ago – (25:24) & my 2nd best ever was 25:58 in October 2011. I was 30 seconds faster today, starting strong but controlled and pushing through the middle to finish hard but not all-out.

All is right with the world again! I’l test the speed a little next Thursday at the Armory in the 600 and/or 1000 before my next big race, Monmouth’s “Milers Night” on 2/19.

What workouts do you do to know you’re ready to race?