Tempo Time

I've been wanting to run a 4 Mile Tempo for a while now. I define a "tempo" as a run that is at about 90-95% of your maximum effort over that distance. I've always felt like these runs are a great, and accurate, judge of fitness. However, being in Boulder (instead of at sea level), I wasn't really sure what to expect. After about a 1.5 warm up I began with the main goal of not overrunning the first mile and half to make sure I had a decent finish. I hit the first mile in 7:10, followed by a 7:01, a 6:44 for the 3rd mile (20:56), and closed with a 6:57 for a final time of 27:53.8. I was just hoping to run under 30-minutes, which would have been the fastest I've ever run a 4 Mile Tempo. So I was extremely excited with my final time! On top of that, I felt so good after I finished that I decided to get a little more quality work in, so after a mile recovery jog I ran a hard mile in 6:38. I cooled down for about a mile to give myself 8.5 miles on the morning. It was a great workout and it has me feeling really good about my current fitness level.

(P.S. I'm not looking forward to returning to the heat and humidity of SE Texas in a few days)