Second-last Tempo Run

I love this whole tapering thing. Today's run was to be a seven mile run, including 5 miles at a 7:23 pace or better.

There was a whole bunch of us out, including Karen and Tori, Brian, Kelly Finlayson and two new runners to the group, Peter and Heather Mutter. Both Kelly and Heather had been running with Kelly Vivian over the spring and summer and were ready to take on some speed work, which was great! Brian and I added a few nutrients to the seed that Kelly Vivian had planted for them to work towards the Shore-to-Shore run in 2008.

While the 7:23 target pace (4:37/k) was quick, I knew it was achievable because it was actually slower than my 8k pace of 4:30/k during the South Huron Trail Run, which was also a much hillier route.

I knocked off the miles with pretty good consistency, repeating my mantra to myself of "Conserve, conserve, conserve..." for the first four miles, and then kicking it up a notch for the last mile.

My tempo mile times were 7:20, 7:23, 7:17, 7:22 and 7:00, which I was quite pleased with. That was good enough for an average of 7:16/mile (4:33/k) -- just shy of my 8K race mark for the race earlier this year. And I know I could have gone faster.

On another note, Jed came by the house after the run to sign some things for the Lions club. He had informed me on Monday that he's doing Corning! Apparently the London physiotherapist(Scott DeLuca of Highbury North Physiotherapy - 519-659-2748) to whom Paula had referred him has worked wonders! So he is going to do some light runs and take a stab at the marathon in Corning. He figures he'll know within the first three miles whether he'll be able to carry on marathon pace for the full distance. Brian and I both agree that it shouldn't be a problem. He was ready to go a month ago when we did the last Port Stanley run -- his taper was just a bit more abrupt than ours!

Anyhow, we're back to all three of us running it -- and I couldn't be happier to have my pace buddy back in the run.

11 more sleeps to race day!