Ten Mile Tempo Run

It's hard for most runners to avoid being a little bit obsessive (some might say anal) about time and distance.  I began the year (see post of January 2) realizing that I am often "The Man Who Knows Too Much."

"I am indeed The Man Who Knows Too Much sometimes. . . I know the predicted weather from four or five weather apps on my iPhone, my exact mileage and pace at any given time during a run, my planned distance, my cadence, my approximate heartbeat, and where that patch of ice will be on Lower Lake Road.  Some of these things are good to know (e.g. patch of ice) but others can distract us from the things we should be discovering along the way, like the aroma of pine needles over by the Biological Station, the light skim of ice on Harris Lake, that indomitable oak tree on Fifth Street that is still clutching all its brown leaves in January. . .This year I resolve to know less.  So that I can discover more."

That's all very well and good until marathon training begins.  Then my running log becomes filled with times and distances obsessively entered in great detail.  I still marvel at the beauty of running in Highlands in every season, in seeing the sunlight slanting down through the morning fog as it did yesterday, wispy wraiths ahead of me on the road slowly rising into the cool morning air, and the same dogwood trees becoming more and more blood-red every day.  But measuring my progress becomes paramount during this 16-week period, and it will indeed be a relief after November 9 to run without looking at my Garmin, to simply run in joy and thanksgiving as I usually do for many weeks whenever I have completed a formidable event.

But this week I was obsessive about a good tempo run, my first 10-miler, and everything clicking along just fine, with splits as fast as 9:20 and as slow as 9:39, but averaging out at 9:28 (plus some decimals I resist entering here).  Tempo runs are tough for me, but I kept thinking yesterday that this was the last time I would be doing this workout (although I have some mile repeats still coming up in my schedule), and thus my last opportunity to run them well.

It really is all about the training.  And it's OK to be obsessive about your running a few weeks every year.