For the third monday in a row my schedule called for the 20 / 30 / 20 workout. This included a 20-minute warmup, 30-minutes at tempo pace, and a 20-minute cool down. The only difference from the previous two weeks was that John had me take the tempo section down just a hair from 7:15 to 7:10.
The temperatures at 6am this morning were in the mid 60s with overcast skies and fairly high humidity after early morning rains. Just like last Monday, Nathan and I met in the parking lot of the Forest Home Church on Old Natchez Trace in Franklin. We completed our 20-minute warmup on a loop through Montpier Place subdivision, with an average pace around 8:25 per mile. Even though the humidity was high, the overcast skies help a lot with the conditions.
For the tempo portion we ran 15-minutes out and back on Old Natchez Trace, Old Hillsboro Road, and Del Rio Pike. Nathan decided to run with me this week instead of running the tempo portion as a progression like last week. It always makes it easier when you are running with someone, and this morning I felt fantastic. It has been interesting how I’ve felt progressively better each week while doing this workout. Today we nailed the splits on the first three miles with a cumulative time of 7:10, 14:20, and 21:30, exactly 7:10 for each one. For the fourth one we were three seconds fast with a cumulative time of 28:37. After the final 2 1/2 minutes my watch showed 4.18 miles completed with a 7:10 average pace.
Two weeks ago my average heart rate for the tempo section was 164 at 7:15 average pace. Last week it was 160 at 7:14 average pace. Today it was 158 at 7:10 average pace. Not sure why my heart rate is getting better, but I’ll take it! On a side note, during the second mile on Del Rio, Nathan pointed out a large Owl up in one of the trees on the side of the road. We occasionally see owls in Percy and Edwin Warner Parks, but I still get a kick out of seeing these magnificent birds out in the wild. He kept a close eye on us until we were well past.
After grabbing a quick drink, we finished with a 20-minute cool down back in Montpier Place subdivision. We ended up running on some different roads this time, and they turned out to be quite hilly. Pretty close to our turnaround point, I noticed an almost neon pink Volkswagen Beetle (modern version) sitting up in front of a house. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a car quite that shade of pink, and have a hard time believing it was a factory color. I commented to Nathan that it was like the shade of the old Hubba Bubba bubble gum.
How many of you remember Hubba Bubba?
Anyway, our final total was just over 9-miles completed at 7:47-min pace with warmup and cool down. Great run with Nathan!
Beast Mode…ON!