7 mile Tempo Run: Retrospective

Let's review today's run. I ran a total of 8.1 miles. Mile 1 was a warm-up. The remaining distance was run at the pace I intend to run my race.

Or at least it was supposed to be run at that pace.

My goal pace for 15 miles is a 10:27 mile. I ran my tempo run at:

10:14

10:05

10:22

10:40

10:05

10:07

9:33

Ok, so the closest I came to my goal pace was 10:22. Only one of the miles did I run too slowly. And that last mile? I was kicking it pretty hard, although I still had some juice left in me at the end. 

Here's the real question. Is it OK to run your tempo run faster than your goal pace? Isn't it a good thing to run faster for the entirety? If my times were all over the place, some faster, some slower, then I could see that this might not be good. But I would say I averaged a 10:12. Does that mean that should be my goal pace? Or do I just leave it be?

I don't know the answers to these questions. 

On a separate note, I have been reading The Runner's Brain by Dr. Jeff Brown and I tried a couple of his suggestions. First, I picked out an outfit that I felt made me fast. I know it sounds silly because how can a shirt, some toe socks, and some compression tights make you fast.  But whatever  I felt like a serious runner, and I needed to feel that way for this zippier run.

Next, I tried to focus internally. I already have an internal associative style of thinking when I run hard. That means I focus on what's going on within my body. For example, I scan my body for pain points  I adjust my breathing constantly, and I am forever assessing my current form. Am I standing straight with a tilt at the ankles? Am I hunched over? Are my shoulders relaxed and not bunched up near my ears? Is my head facing forward or am I staring upwards at the sky? Are my elbows cocked outward? The faster I run, the more I assess my form.  The slower I run, the more likely I am to have an external dissociative style of thinking.  What will I have for dinner? Will the code I wrote for the web service break and cause me to stay late at work tonight? Are there any more good nature documentaries on Netflix?

One thing I did during the last mile was interesting. I was getting tired. So I did a body scan. I noticed that there wasn't any particular body part that was hurting or felt fatigued. My breathing was about the same as it had been. So why I was getting tired? Was I really tired or did I just think I was tired because I was so close to the end?  I did notice it was requiring more effort to make my legs move. It seemed like I was expending a bit more energy to get my quads pumping, and I was not going any faster.That wasn't entirely true because that last mile I ran about 40 seconds faster than the others. But it seemed like I was working very hard for this extra speed. 

My run this morning was quite a success. I got a little too relaxed on that 10:40 mile ( I knew it felt too easy!), but otherwise I did pretty good. Taking a day between the strength session and the tempo run helps. I take a day completely off. 

The next 3 days are easy and long runs. I look forward to these. My mind wanders a bit, but it feels like a brain vacation. I just let it go wherever it wants. I will dress in something appropriate, maybe something that will make me slow down a bit.