I put in another tempo run this morning. Hit all my time marks, didn't feel overly strained or tired and, in fact, could've gone faster. Nice effort for a dude counting down the hours to the Big 5-0.
All of the above is true, that is, in miles 3 through 9.
The first two miles were slow and creaky. Mile 1 was about a minute and a half slower than tempo pace, Mile 2 about 45 seconds off pace.
Geez, I know I run early in the morning and it takes a while to warm up, but I really do start slowly. I'm like an old car that needs a while to speed up after idling all night in the cold.
I've come to terms with my slow starts to training runs. Keeps you from getting hurt, I tell myself. And if it lowers my overall run pace, so be it.
The other day, I was heartened to learn that even a few Masters elite runners are slow starters during training, too.
Here's an excerpt from a competitor.com interview with Masters distance champion Colleen DeReuck:
What kind of pace are you doing for those mid-week long runs?
The first mile is like 8:15. Then I build up to like 7:00, maybe even 6:50.
So you are doing a progression run, then?
No. I think as you get older, you start out slow and then it takes your body a longer amount of time to warm up. It's not that I'm meaning to do a progression run. Darren just bought a Garmin and we saw that I was running like an 8:15 first mile, and I was like, "Oh my goodness, this is how I've always run." I think it's because you are older and so you start out a lot slower and then eventually get into your pace. When you are younger, you can just jump right into it.
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