Born to Run?

 
Running the 34th Annual Gate River Run in Jax, FL this March made me realize that my legs and knees were holding up much stronger than my heart. I was getting a little breathless even at a little under 10 mins/mile pace. I thought I could hold up much better with all the miles and training I have been putting into my runs. I finished the run in 1:35:29; which probably would have been a little more better if we did not have to run through the maze of people in the run. My friend, even with bad knees was doing much better than I, leaving me a few steps behind, most of the time. If we had not made our “girly promise” to stick by each other and finish the run together, she could have finished the run a good 5-10 mins ahead of me. She was more relaxed than I. The difference in her training and mine was that she had incorporated many tempo runs in her training while I had been busy focusing on the long runs. Tempo Run was not new to my “Runner Vocabulary” but I had never given it much of a  thought. It sounded elite to me. What next? I google(d) Tempo Run and ended up reading several articles on it which have finally convinced me that I need to incorporate Tempo Runs in my training if I want to perform better in the upcoming runs. “Your Perfect Tempo” an article in Runner’s World is a must read. Quoting the article here “…You’ll be even happier if you make tempo running a part of your weekly training regimen, and get results that make you feel like a Kenyan–if not quite as fast. “
So frens, looks like Tempo Run it is; on my way to feel like a Kenyan even though I will not be able to run like one. 🙂
                                      *picture provided by: http://kenyapage.net/athletics/commentary/