Thursday workout

Ran 5 1/2 miles, whi*****luded a 4 mile tempo run with my running program. Wow - I am finding this running program challenging.

rookie question:  what is a tempo run?

I'm currently reading "4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon" and it describes a tempo run as follows: tempo runs help make you marathon race pace ... feel easy. Tempo runs are done at a faster pace than you want to do for the marathon. Tempo runs are stamina runs. The coach of the program said to run "comfortably hard" for 2 miles. Take a 2 mile break and then run the last 2 miles about 90 seconds faster than the first 2 miles.