7 Mile Tempo Run from Gibbons Park to Wonderland Bridge and Back...

Tonight, it was reasonably warm out -- roughly 27 degrees C although the "humidex" apparently was at 32. Johnny wanted us doing a light workout -- so a maximum of 7 miles out and back, but with the second half faster than marathon pace.

Of course, the joy of running down the paths along the Thames River in London Ontario is that the way back (when we step up the pace) is upstream, as it were.

Here are my splits:

5:33/km
5:03
5:32
5:32
5:20
5:14 (pace - 780 m.)
4:35
4:38
4:37
4:39
4:48
4:50 (pace - 770 m.)

I got through the first 4 km back to Gibbons Park and passed the water stop at the forks of the Thames -- but I didn't stop because I thought I had it in me to keep the pace for the full 3.5 miles back. I was wrong, and my time fell apart as I climbed the Harris Park hill.

The overall average pace was 5:02 -- so just a hair over a 3:30 marathon pace. My pace for the 3.5 miles back was 4:41 per km (7:32 per mile), which wasn't terrible considering the heat.

On the plus side, I worked hard the entire way, and my legs were tired at the end. But I didn't overheat. So, all in all, I was happy with the run.

Speed Work - Ladder from 400 m. to 1000 m. and back down again...

It was a rainy ol' day at TD Waterhouse Stadium for our speed workout tonight. But a surprising number of people showed up and the rain subsided by the time we actually got into the workout. Here is how my splits were:

400 m.: 1:34 (47 sec. per 200 m.)
600 m.: 2:28 (49 sec.)
800 m.: 3:18 (49.5 sec.)
1000 m.: 4:12 (50.5 sec.)
800 m.: 3:22 (50.5 sec.)
600 m.: 2:30 (50 sec.)
400 m.: 1:32 (46 sec.)

My average per 200 m. "lap" was 49.39 seconds, which is a full second per 200 m. faster than February 5, 2013, and just a hair slower than the 49.28 I did in July 2010 (http://blog.brucelamb.com/2010/07/speed-work-ladder-in-rain.html).

First Speed work of 2014 Summer Program: 6 x 600 m. repeats

Nice night -- roughly 22 degrees C. Was aiming for 2:30 per 600 m. repeat (2 minute break) and hoping to step it up to 2:15 for the last lap. Got the first part right! Here are my splits:

2:24
2:24
2:23
2:25
2:27
2:23

So an average of 2:24 (4:00 per km.)

Compared to June 2011, about 3 seconds off per repeat from what I did at the start of 2011.