On Mondays and Fridays, she rests

If you haven't seen the link to the Running Room schedule, you can find it on the bottom of the right hand side on the main page.  It takes you to a google doc where I've basically copied their info and added a column of my own so I can compare their plan to my actuals over time and see how I've stacked up.

According to that schedule, Mondays and Fridays are my two rest days of the week.  I think I like this, actually.  Seems to work for me even in the abstract right now.  Monday night Micheal and I have a date night in - we have dinner and watch a movie together, so it's nice to not have to schedule a run around that tradition.  And Friday, well Friday I'm pretty much dead so I'm happy to not have anything formal scheduled, you know?  All in all, this could work quite well for me.

So since today I rested, that must mean tomorrow I'm back at it.  On the schedule is a 4k tempo run and my plan is to complete it as early in the morning as humanly possible to avoid as much heat and humidity - and maybe even thunder and rain - as I can.

It'll be my first tempo run and, well, I have to admit I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to be doing.  Here's what the notes say:

These workouts are intended to be near the lactate threshold pace, 80% MHR. 

• They are designed to improve the lactate threshold for the athlete, in other words - to help people move faster
• Tempo workouts should stress the body at a specific intensity level - not more, not less.  The workout should ideally take place on smooth, flat terrain under relatively calm weather conditions
• Tempo workouts are typcially of 20-30 minute non-stop duration with a warm up and cool down added.  Alternatively, tempo repeats can consist of a few shorter sets of tempo intervals with a short rest between them.  In this way, tempo workouts can be increased to 30-50 minutes overall.
• Experience has taught that optimum benefit is gained by staying within these ranges.  More does not necessarily mean better and in this case, overstress and even injury could be the result. 

Riiiiiiiiight.  Sounds like a flippin party to me.  So I don't have a heart rate monitor, meaning it will be hard to know when I'm at 80% maximum heart rate.  It's going to be hot like Hades so not really calm weather conditions.  Apparently I'm supposed to warm up, run fast for 20-30 minutes, then cool down, somehow fitting this into 4k.  And my tempo pace is supposed to be around 7:17 according to the 2:30 finish time group.

You confused with me yet?

I'm sure there are a gazillion experienced runners who would know exactly how to tackle a tempo workout but sadly, I'm nowhere close to being one of the right at this very moment.  And I have about 8 hours to figure it out.  Ha!

Guess I'll wing it and see what happens.  Warm up first k, run balls out for k's 2 and 3, then cool down for the 4th k?  Should be interesting since I almost always run intervals - I can't see myself running at higher than normal speeds for 20-30 minutes straight when I generally take a walk break every six.  But never say never, right?!  Meh.

Of course, all this could be shot to hell if the skies open up tomorrow morning and force me on to the dreadmill instead.  I suppose if that happens it'll be much easier to control my speed but I really hope I get to run outside instead, humidity be damned.  Don't get me wrong, I love having the treadmill in the house as a backup but for me, nothing compares to actually being outside.

I guess it's all up to Mother Nature now.  In the interim, if anyone has any tempo advice they'd like to share I'm all ears!  Both Tuesday and Wednesday's runs are slated to be tempos so said advice will always be put to good use.

Wish me luck!