11 Mile Tempo Run

Tonight's tempo run looked like it might be a pretty good one. A bit warm to start (24 degrees C.), but not terrible. We took it really easy on the way out, but on the way back, we pushed it. I was looking for 4:30 to 4:35 per kilometre. Here are my splits:

5:48
5:08
5:42
5:33
5:30
5:26
5:30
5:24
5:21 (pace for 910 m.)
4:26
4:30
4:28
4:33
4:36
4:41
5:13
5:16
4:37 (pace for 870 m.)

Tom Fernandez paced with me one the way back. Tom is a very strong runner and did a great job of keeping a consistent pace. I felt badly when going up Riverview Drive, I hit the 4:41 pace and felt it was falling apart so we took a walk break, and then trotted the rest of the way in with a quick water stop at the forks of the Thames.

Overall, my 'fast' pace was 4:42 over the full 9 kilometres back, but for those first 6K, it was 4:32.3 (7:18.5 per mile). Certainly, this 'fast' pace is better than I've done in recent memory. And overall, it compares well to one of my best long tempo runs last year where my average pace overall was 7:28 per mile (but with no trotting back).

My average was 5:06 over the 18 kilometres (a bit over 11 miles).