Attempted Tempo

Had a lousy tempo run this morning...It was wet and really damn windy at Greenlake this morning, but that wasn't the most awful part. I was supposed to do 2 miles at a higher HR than I've ever done a tempo run (160). The last time I did one at 155-158, I felt like I was tripping on my tongue, so just seeing this on paper was enough to keep me stalling at home prior to going out (hmmm...are those dishes clean? Yeah, I think I need to put those away...better put the coffee in the coffee maker for when I get back...I could say hi again to Seujan who's on the rollers and check the news for the temperature, now need to find gloves...OK, for godsake, buck up and get out the door!!!). Once I got down to Greenlake, though, I really did intend to do the workout. Honest. I ran a 1.2 mile warm up and then hit it hard (up to 160 HR as directed), but died about after about 12 and a half minutes into the tempo part. Got a horrible sideache and could barely get my breath. I had to walk for a minute (after which HR was still at 132), then made myself start running again. Recovered at a moderate pace for about 6 minutes, then tried to salvage the workout and get the word "failure" out of my head (not being able to handle a 2 mile tempo run is pathetic), hitting another half mile hard (up to 164 bpm), then did a mile cool down. After 45ish lousy minutes, the best part of the early morning was a story I heard on NPR on the way home; Coca-Cola is stalling the release of a movie in which Jesus is shown drinking a Coke because, "Jesus is not an official representative of Coke." Hilarious.

Workout summary:

1.2 mle warm up
12:30 Tempo (160 bpm)
6 minutes moderate (145ish bpm)
.5 mile hard (164 bpm and about 3:50)
1 mile moderate/easy

5 miles
45:24
Avg. HR = 147