Better tempo day

Good days, bad days, mediocre days, hard days, easy days, putting in the miles days. So what kind of a day was I blessed with today? The 'plan' says 8-15k race but that's not going to happen in this part of the world and so the best option I could come up with was 11 miles with 5 at tempo pace. Considering that I've been tired the last few days and we've got a 20 miler planned for Sunday with the gang this was the path of least resistance.

Nice sunny Saturday here but still cool with -8C early in the morning. Waited around and had a nice quiet lazy morning, blueberry pancake breakfast and then worked on some preparations for our local Father's Day race which takes place here in beautiful St. Andrews on June 18th. You can see the details now at the Run New Brunswick website. I'm one of the co-directors of this small local race that usually attracts 100 or so runners each year. Here are a few pictures from last year's and results can also be found on the Run NB site as well.

So, just before noon the temps had 'warmed' up to almost 0C but only -6C with the windchill so layers needed once again. They say that spring equinox is scheduled to arrive here on Monday at 2:26 Atlantic time but I'll believe it when we can wear shorts in comfort once again!

Back to today's run, 2 layers plus a jacket, extra head gear, gloves, gatorade, mp3 player, tiny bit of enthusiasm and off. Did the 1st 6 miles out of town to Bayside at a slow easy pace in about 52 minutes. Then turned up the throttle for the return leg home at a near tempo pace with a heartrate around 150. Managed the last 5 in 36:20 or 7:20 pace which is only slightly faster than marathon pace but was unable to move the legs any faster or get the HR any higher. On a positive note this was 2 minutes faster than the last time I did this same run 2 weeks ago. It'll just have to do and besides, there's still the long run tommorow to be ready for!