Today was the first run of the new year. I ran in the afternoon instead of the early morning so I could watch the Tournament of Roses Parade. It’s a tradition of mine. I actually sit there on the couch with my breakfast and coffee and watch the entire two hours of the parade. I enjoy starting off the year in a relaxed state of mind and body.
Starting the year off right
I kicked off the year with a tempo run in the afternoon. The temperature was a very comfortable 57 degrees and cloudy. Toward the end of the run I felt the wind start to kick up but I was nearly finished by then. We’re expecting more rain overnight and off and on all week, so I was thankful to get out today before it started.
The workout today was a 55 minute tempo run with the same paces as the last time I ran this workout. The first half of the run went really well and I was hitting each pace block right on target. However, after my peak pace I found it hard to stay with the right pacing. I would either run too fast or too slow. So, I found myself looking at my watch a lot to figure out how fast I was running.
When I checked the stats after my run I found that I still hit each of my pace targets. However, what should have been a tempo run was rated as a base run by my Coros watch. So, I compared it to the last time I ran this workout to see what was off. In the last workout I ran an average of 5 seconds per mile faster. My cadence was also quicker; 181 compared to today’s cadence of 175. My overall distance was very close; 5.24 miles last time and 5.21 miles this time.
Since all of the stats were so close I thought that maybe my heart rate was higher but even that was within 1 bpm of my last run. I’m not going to overthink it too much but I was surprised to see it rated as a base run instead of a tempo run.
Tracking annual running distance
I started back at mile 0 to start tabulating my running distance in 2023. I finished 2022 with 1,074.89 miles! I wonder if I can beat that in 2023? We shall see…
Workout
- 55 minute tempo run