Am I being unrealistic?

[joenali]

Ok I'm a pretty slow runner for how long I've been running. It's not something that I usually put 100% effort into, but now that it's the one thing that I can do consistently it's time to give it all I've got. So my last half marathon, about two years ago was a pr of 2:13 on a very hilly course. I want to try to go a 2:05 for this next one. my speed workouts have me going a 9:01 pace for tempo workouts. This seems really fast to me lol! I want to be able to do it but also be realistic about it. I have my first speed workout on Tuesday. it Is a warm-up and then 3x8 minutes at 10k pace. I want to be able to nail all three, but I'm not sure it will happen this soon, so do I readjust, aim for 9:01 and if it's not maintainable, walk for a bit then pick it back up for the remainder of the set? I don't want to wimp out, but I don't want to fail either.

[reginaphalange72]

I don't think that's unrealistic at all. You could really go either way with this tempo workout, I guess. I heard something recently (on the IMTalk podcast) about doing your tempo workouts at your CURRENT race pace, and then increasing that pace as you get faster through speedwork. However, it may also be a case of you psyching yourself out. Maybe you can hit and hold that pace?

I think, I would probably try to hit it for the first interval, and then give myself some leeway to adjust accordingly for the next ones if I needed to. Don't kill yourself trying to hit something that is a bit beyond what you can sustain at this moment in time. But you're a BAMF, and I wouldn't be shocked if you can do it already. You can do anything for 8 minutes.

[joenali]

Aug 16, 2014 20:30:15 GMT -5 reginaphalange72 said:

I don't think that's unrealistic at all. You could really go either way with this tempo workout, I guess. I heard something recently (on the IMTalk podcast) about doing your tempo workouts at your CURRENT race pace, and then increasing that pace as you get faster through speedwork. However, it may also be a case of you psyching yourself out. Maybe you can hit and hold that pace?

I think, I would probably try to hit it for the first interval, and then give myself some leeway to adjust accordingly for the next ones if I needed to. Don't kill yourself trying to hit something that is a bit beyond what you can sustain at this moment in time. But you're a BAMF, and I wouldn't be shocked if you can do it already. You can do anything for 8 minutes.

I like it!

[taratru]

I tend to take the average of any speedwork. So I start a little slower.

I think you can totally hit those paces.

[hannahb]

I don't think you're being unrealistic. Go for it!

[joenali]

A little update:

It wasn't bad, it wasn't pretty, it was like a Butter face. I couldn't exactly hold the 9:01 for 8 minutes all three times. I did have to slow down several times, but oh well. I bet in a few weeks l be able to do it.

This was my first speed workout since last summer. So really not bad at all.

[reginaphalange72]

Awesome job!

[tuggyruns]

Great job! You can totally hit those paces!

[emuni04]

Great job!

[Deleted]

Good stuff!