As I am still testing out my calf to see if it will be fine I didn't want to run a full long run of 20 miles today, but I wanted to run more than 10 miles, and I compromised running 15. I ran out to Sunset Park and ran my second tempo run there (the first being in December) running two loops on the 2.7 mile trail that goes around a portion of the park. As the trail loops around almost continually the effect of the ever-present wind is lessened and at times I even got a tail wind! However, the wind still ends up slowing you down and it is impossible to know for sure how much it affects you. Even minus the wind this trail is not fast due to the constant twists and turns, but it is fairly flat so it is the best location for me to do tempo runs that I can think of. Anyhow, I ran 4 miles to the park, plus about 1.6 miles extra before starting my tempo run. I wanted to start off hard to test how my calf would hold up running something a little more dynamic, and also to see how well I would be able to maintain the effort when starting off by running hard. I was pleased with the results of the tempo as my calf held up pretty well (a few twinges near the beginning but otherwise fine) and after starting off faster than I could maintain for 5 miles I was still able to rally and run the second loop faster than the first (14:08, 14:05) to finish with a total time of 28:13 for 5.4 miles (5:13 average). I ran home after finishing to finish up the 15 miles. |