Awesome hard, brisk 5-mile tempo

I didn't have much time to post this last night, so this is a day late, meaning my workout was Tuesday night.

Got in 8 minutes of elliptical work, then hit the weights for some chest, hips and leg exercises.

Surprisingly, the lower body workouts continue to feel great and I'm keeping my theme of very little weight with a very gradual goal of increasing the pounds lifted. I'm feeling less sore in these areas after a run, so it must be working.

After the weights, I hit the treadmill. I wanted to do a hard tempo run -- meaning the first and last miles would be fairly easy, but the middle three miles would be challenging.

I busted out the first mile in 8:32 to get warmed up. Then I ratcheted it up to a 6:58/mile pace for the next three miles. This was hard right away, mentally I knew I could do it and hoped the physical part would hold up.

There were times when I wanted to slow down and take it easier, but this is where strength is built mentally. After 2 miles, I kept thinking I can always run just one more mile and that's what I did.

It wasn't easy at all, but busting out 3 miles faster than 7 minutes a mile for a tempo workout was great! I think I gained even more mental toughness than physical improvement during this run.

That's because I don't have much experience training faster than a 7-minute mile pace for an extended period of time, although 5-K races are a different story since you don't have to save yourself and can go all out.

During previous tempo runs when the weather was warm, I've done a few training runs that have had mile paces faster than 7 minutes, but then I always seem to slow down a little bit at some point and haven't sustained it. So I'm very encouraged by this run.

After the 3 miles at 6:58/pace were done. I walked for about 30-40 seconds to recover, then dialed it back in at a 8:06/mile pace to finish the 5 miles.

The time was about 38:13 for the entire 5 miles or 7:38/mile pace. But the overall time isn't what was important or even the goal here, it was to sustain a hard training pace faster than 7 minutes per mile and that's what was done. So I'm very happy to break this barrier.

Runners World Quote of the Day:

"This is what really matters: running. This is where I know where I am."

Steve Jones, former marathon world record holder

Happy running!