Breaking an Hour

I had a very good tempo run this morning.  10 miles in 59:19.  I felt pretty good throughout but the 2^nd half took a little more concentration than the first half.  The 5 mile splits, while positive, were fairly close: 29:32 / 29:47.  The foot behaved itself.  A little discomfort through the first half mile and then it evened out nicely.  For a warm up I did some striders to get the heart rate up and afterward I did a two mile cool down.

 

I felt surprisingly good through most of the workout.  I was pleased that my running felt controlled and the breathing easy.  Aerobically I was strong but the legs experienced some progressive fatigue as the miles passed.  I hit a little low spot on the 7^th mile but that passed for the final three.  The first mile was the slowest at 6:19 and I know mile 2 was the fastest but it was too foggy to see the split with accuracy – my guess is somewhere between 5:20 – 5:30.  However, when I crossed mile three (uphill) with the clock still under 18:00 I knew I was going to like this workout.  Miles 4 through 6 are flat and they went very well.  Finishing out mile 7 at the top of a hill was a little tougher than I’d like (split around 6:15) - but I was still 15 seconds on the good side of 42:00.  I knew then that I had the hour broken.  The final three were 5:58, 5:57, and a 5:39 to finish.

 

This workout was a good confidence booster.

 

12.3 miles total with 10 miles @ tempo (59:19 / 5:56 pace)