Daytime 5-Mile Tempo Run with a Mask On

April 28, 2020
Warm Up 4.1 K: 22:21.46
Rest: 45.19
Tempo Run 8 K (5 Mile): 37:44.70 (Target=36:31.00)
Rest: 30.25
Jog 3.1 K: 18:21.21
Surge 1 K: 4:08.99
Total 16.2 K: 1:23:51 

I ran in the daytime after a long time. It felt good. There were people walking on the street and playing in the park, but they looked safely distanced from one another.

I overtook some pedestrians along the way, and passed a few coming toward me from the opposite directions. Most acted cool, but there was this one woman who obviously looked scared of me running toward her. She stepped aside to the edge of the sidewalk to maximize her distance from me. I was freaked out by her overreaction, so I too stepped aside farther away from her to avoid the potential negative vibrations that might be radiating from the irrationally freaked-out individual.  

Later, though, when I got my pic taken to see how I looked when masked, I kind of understood her fear. A masked runner such as the one in the picture above doesn't look very friendly. 

The highlight of the training today is 5-mile tempo run. I already did 5 K tempo run before. I didn't make the target, but I got the feel of the intensity. Today I increased the challenge by extending distance from 5 K to 5 miles. What is it like to think about your training distance in terms of miles instead of kilometers?  I'm just curious. When you are thinking in terms of kilometers, a marathon is 10 K by 4 times plus 2.195 K.  In terms of miles, it may be like 5 miles by 5 times plus 1.2 more miles. Which is better? What is a psychological consequence of training in terms of miles for a while, and then coming back to the kilometer mode. I'm just curious. To answer this question, I'm going to continue with this 5-mile tempo run for a while. I didn't make the target today, but I fell short only by a minute and 13 seconds.  Slashing that time won't be impossible. I think the key to success is getting used to a faster pace, so that the pace in the tempo run won't be so uncomfortable. 

Soon I will be doing intervals: 1 K by 6 sets @ 4:13/K with 1-minute rest between sets.