Tempo run at punk speed

Whew, what a run today! Schedule called for a 3 mile tempo run with warm up and cool down to total 5 miles. You know, the other day I was kind of yanking on my speed+distance watch, but thinking about it maybe I should put in a word about possible inaccuracies for MapMyRun.com. I mean, you are drawing lines on a map from a 20,000 ft point of view (ok, maybe I exaggerate a little), but it is what it is. On the ground with the speed+distance watch, it is measuring every step including weaving back and forth across the street and every little turn and such. Maybe the true accuracy is somewhere between. Well, I plan my runs with MapMyRun and then I measure them with the Timex speed+distance (unless the battery runs out, at which point I rely on MapMyRun). The reason for all this is that my recorded distances come out farther than planned, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Ok, so I warmed up with 1.21 miles in 11:44, then ran a rather hard tempo of 3.25 miles in 25:22. That translates out to an average pace of 7:47. Yes, it did feel hard. My previous best pace was 7:52, and the planned pace was to be 9:05? Ooops. I name my MP3 player as the culprit. I finally remembered to use it, and one of the playlists is "punk stuff." Well, punk stuff is a wonderful blend of teenaged-skateboard-thrash music from the likes of blink182, Good Charlotte, NOFX, Less Than Jake, and the more holy sounding Reliant K. Yes, ecclectic should be my middle name. The upside of this mix is a playlist "tempo" that really lends itself to speedwork or tempo runs. The downside is that it might be too fast. Or not. I survived. And I was able to cool down in 1.24 miles and 11:26. Overall, I actually ran further than Saturday's long run. But last week I was coming off the 10K, so that's my excuse.

Of course, running more than 3 miles at a pace of 7:47 makes me wonder just what can I do in a 5K? I really only have to run at 8:00 per mile to break my 25 minute goal. But if I run it faster and shatter my current PR of 25:11, am I dooming myself to be stuck with a new PR instead of setting a new one each race? More importantly, do I really care? I do know this: I definitely run faster with my tunes, but I'm going to stay with not using tunes during a race. Not because I'm better than anyone else, but just because I choose it as my personal preference. Apparently the USATF is going to revisit and think about their current ban on headphones at any of their sanctioned races. Personally, I'm glad that I am not totally dependent on the things. All I really need to run are my running shoes ... and maybe some shorts to keep my privates ... private. I've said too much. Later.