Ave Training Week 3, Day 4: Not-Tempo Run

Why is it that what starts out being a great workout day quickly unravels into a steaming pile?

I suppose it wasn't that bad. I was feeling really good today, the pain in my leg wasn't near as bad as it had been, and I was looking forward to the run. The weather outside was moderate, barely any clouds in the sky, a light breeze. After the rain we've had recently and the few weeks of no blue sky in sight, it was looking like a great one.

On today's schedule was a tempo run, with two easy miles as a warmup and one mile as an easy cooldown. The middle three miles were tempo miles, making six total.

I ran the first mile too fast, at least for a warmup. The second mile, I purposely slowed to conserve my energy for the 3 tempo miles coming up. As I rounded the corner onto Bradshaw, I saw the sign that I didn't want to see: SIDEWALK CLOSED, PLEASE USE OTHER SIDE.

I shouldn't have been surprised. The Taco Bell on Bradshaw in Sacramento was torn down recently for a rebuild. The past few weeks, they've been building the new place, and the past week, they've closed the sidewalk and extended their construction into the road, closing the right lane. This is the closure I ran into.

Not only did I have to stop twice, but it was about the slowest stoplight I've encountered in a long time! It was 3 minutes before I could cross the first time, and at least 5 minutes the next. By the time I'd run across Highway 50, my motivation to do the intervals was pretty low. In fact, I didn't even want to finish the run.

The saving grace was the beautiful day. I continued on and try to at very least enjoy the day, all the while listening to the Mike O'Meara Show Podcast. The show ended in the last mile, when I switched over to Rush music and finished strong.





1:07, 6.3 miles, 11:32/mi average, 672 calories burned

My next run will be Saturday's Frost or Fog 5k in Upper Bidwell Park, Chico. I'm certainly not expecting to PR, but a decent run would be nice. It's also supposed to be a clear day. In the afternoon, I'm meeting an old friend for lunch and to hang out for a while. I haven't seen him in 5 years, so it should be a nice visit.