Today was the last of my 8-mile tempo runs. Next week it will be a 9-mile tempo run (11 miles total) and then four weeks later, the 10-mile tempo run (12 miles total).
Because the tempo portion of the run is just slightly slower than half-marathon pace, the runs kind of feel like doing a half-marathon race ... every week. During last week's 8-mile tempo run I realized as I entered Piedmont Commons with 1.5 miles left in the tempo portion of the run that I needed to treat the run like I would an actual race.
And that means taking GU gels. Normally I don't like to use them during training workouts since it's kind of like eating money (they cost about $1 a piece). But they have been magic for me in the past in the half marathon (I take one at Mile 9 and it usually is good for the next four miles to close out the race).
For the 10-mile run today, I decided that I would take it after running six miles (five miles of that in tempo), so it would cover the last four miles of the run.
It worked beautifully. Eating a gel at the right time in a race gives you confidence to finish strong. In today's workout I could tell that I had extra energy, or rather, wasn't taking energy out of my legs (although 2.5 miles after taking the gel I thought I could have used another one -- but I didn't carry any extras). After I finished running I just drank water instead of a Gatorade. The rest of the day my legs felt fine instead of feeling like I've just run in a race.
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The other thing that I noticed today is how long it takes for my Garmin Forerunner 610 to determine my average pace. Normally in a shorter race like a 5K or a 10K this doesn't matter so much since I am just trying to run flat out.
But for the marathon, running at the right pace is crucial since running too fast at the start can sink you after Mile 20.
In today's tempo run I noticed that right after each mile split, it took a while for the Garmin to arrive at an average pace even though I was running at a steady pace! In one instance in Piedmont Park it took more than a quarter mile (and maybe up to a half mile) before it could decide on my pace.
About a month ago I was running on the PATH trail near The Carter Center when my watch just finished recording my second mile lap. Then I noticed my pace was very slow so I tried to run faster to counter this. Now I know that the watch was trying to determine my pace and I wasn't running any slower than I was before my second mile.
Time: 7:03 a.m.
Temp: 72 degrees (94 percent humidity)
Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Atlanta Beltline Southwest 5K), shorts, Saucony Kinvara 5. (1 GU gel).
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