At least, that’s what I was thinking after finishing my tempo run yesterday.

My training plan for yesterday called for a 4 mile tempo run, with two miles at 6.7 speed (I think that’s roughly 8:57 pace). Although I’ve been able to run a few 8:30ish miles during my long runs recently, I was apprehensive about my ability to make it through the tempo miles without any breaks. The fact that I may be coming down with a cold might have something to do with this. Despite an early bedtime Tuesday night, I woke up feeling less than 100% Wednesday morning. Armed with my new Sparkly Soul headband, I decided to give this workout my best shot. I did a one mile warm up at 6.2 speed (9:40ish pace), then I cranked it up to 11 6.7 and went for it.

Tempo run success! Miles 2 & 3 felt hard, but never “OMG gasping for air I want to die” hard. I’m not sure how well I could have carried on a conversation, but I didn’t feel like I was overexerting myself. After mile 3, I dropped the speed back down to 6.2 for a mile, then gradually dropped the speed to 4.0 for the last .25 miles (I think this was about 2.5 minutes to make for the even 40 minutes on the ‘mill).

See, look how sweaty and sparkly I am! You know, for a sketchy gym locker room selfie.

After a year of solid improvement in my times in 2012, I’m not sure why I still doubt my ability to run fast. I may never run a 6:00 mile, and that’s okay, but I think what I’m learning is that I’m faster than I give myself credit for. Or sparkly headbands really do have magical speed inducing, confidence boosting, powers. I did feel a lot better after my run than I did when I first woke up (pity that feeling didn’t stick around the whole day, but that’s another story). Either way, I might need to reevaluate some of my time goals for 2013 to push myself harder. Stay tuned.

Now it’s your turn! Have any tips for boosting your workout confidence? Tell me about them!

Tagged: Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, Morning Workouts, running, Tempo, Treadmill