Tempo- Goal 6 at 6:10

We're officially in taper mode mileage wise this week, but workout intensity is still the same so today's goal was 6 at 6:10. A quick mental check of the log books told me this would be my fastest 6 mile tempo ever (turns out my memory is a sand bagger, I actually averaged 6:06 on a step down tempo earlier this year), but still obviously not the fastest 6 miles I have ever run having run faster in a few 10ks and the Akron relay. I've also run several 5 mile tempos between 6:10 and 6:16, so it didn't seem like it would be any harder than any of the tempos I have done before. I got it in my head that if I could I would like to average closer to 6:03.

I also noticed during a few workouts last week that while I am more relaxed about workout goals than I used to be, I still tend to micromanage pace, trying to control each mile. So today I decided to go more by feel, no mile splits, just an average for the run displayed on the garmin as well as the total distance. I wanted to try and look at the watch as minimally as possible. I obviously didn't want to go out at some ridiculous pace I couldn't hold, and I didn't want to go out slower than 6:10 so I decided I would look at the watch every 1.5 miles or so (I know the markers approximately on the route).

This approach resulted in a bit of a quick start, around 5:49 at the half mile, 5:59 pace through 3 miles, 6:02 through around 4.25, and 6:05.5 for the whole run in 36:33. I was definitely working the last 2 miles which were into a bit of cross-wind, but I felt really good the first 4 miles and in control. My legs felt really good on the warm up so I had a feeling it would be a good workout.

I decided to start at Browns stadium instead of by the airport to finish closer to the office as I only needed 8 total miles for the run and usually do closer to 12 with warm up and cool down. I got a late start due to an office meeting so I was on my own for the whole run. This allowed me to do the first 3.25 miles away from the crosswind and the last 2.75 into it with minimal warm up and cool down. I didn't worry too much about that first half mile average pace, it was a bit downhill and I figured my effort would settle in and I might be slower with the same effort when I turned around. Pretty confident this is my fastest tempo ever of any distance which is a nice confidence booster considering I want to race faster than I ever have before at Boston :)