Acceptable 10 Mile Tempo Run...

With the crappy long run I had on Monday and the fact that my muscles were still sort on Tuesday from the long run and weekend hockey prior to that, I just skipped the speed work this week. No apologies. No feeling guilty for not making it. Just skipped it. And I'd say that the logic of skipping it -- that I needed to let the muscles repair -- was sound.

Today I did my tempo run in a little community outside of Louisville Kentucky named Prospect KY. I'm in Prospect visiting with some close friends from University -- Ben and Sharon Butler -- and we've also been taking in some of the events at the World Equestrian Games taking place in Lexington, which is a little over an hour's drive away.

Anyhow, this morning was an 'open' morning with nothing scheduled, so I headed out on my run to get in 10 miles -- the first 5 at slightly slower than marathon pace (8:20/mile, 5:11/k) and the last 5 at slightly faster than marathon pace (7:30/mile, 4:40/k.). Here are my kilometre splits:

5:19
5:08
5:01
4:57
5:02
5:07
5:05
5:05
4:46
4:40
4:48
4:42
4:46
4:40
4:41
4:39

There were a few tough k's in there. There was next to no shoulder on which to run and the traffic was fairly heavy. So I found myself running in the grass for a good chunk of the run. And there was really nothing resembling a running trail in the grass, so it definitely wasn't easy running terrain. I was pleased with my last 3 k where I hit the target (the traffic was a little lighter in this segment) and felt strong at the end.

My average throughout the run was 4:54/k -- quite an acceptable pace, I feel.

So, I'll chaulk this up as an acceptable run. I'm back in the game!