The speed blues

Speed!  Where are you, speed?  Come out come out wherever you are!  Speed!!!!

Has somebody found my speed?  If so, I desparately need it back.  I lost it a few weeks ago and can't seem to find it. 

I complained a few posts back about losing my mojo and how I've had nothing but bad runs lately.  Well, I had an awesomely amazing long 10 mile run on Sunday and have had some 5-6 mile runs here and there as well.  Distance doesn't seem to be a problem a bit.  I was afraid I had lost that, but I haven't.  However, whenever I attempt a tempo run or a speed workout, I fall on my face.  I just can't maintain anything remotely "fast" by my standards.  By fast, for me at least, I mean keeping a 9-ish pace during speed or tempo runs.  My pace for the long run is about 11:30-12 min/mile, and regular easy runs about an 11:00 min/mile pace.  I am fine with those paces, but faster is not going so well.  For example, I went out yesterday evening for a speed session, 7 miles total with a 1.5 mile warmup, 3x 1mi @ 9:00 min/mile with 1/2 mile recoveries, and a 1 mile cooldown.  I barely made it through the first speed mile (aka, I had to stop and walk a few times), then I gave up on the speedwork and ran the rest of the way at a slow 11:30-ish pace.  I don't usually give up on things, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish the speedwork for that run at least. 

Maybe I'm wrong for thinking I could jump back into the same paces for my tempo and speed workouts that I ran the last month before my race.  Ok, after typing that, I really realize that I am wrong for jumping back into the same paces.  I did taper for a couple weeks before the race and I took a week off after the race.  So, in 3 weeks time, I lost my speed.  How ridiculous is that?  So, I'm not a genetically gifted runner, and maybe getting to a slow 9:00 min/mile pace takes a lot of work and lots of weeks of training for me.  I'm ok with that.  At least I still have my distance.  I just need to slow down my pace on these tempo runs and speed workouts.  Maybe I will regain some confidence if I just slow down the pace.  Maybe a 10:00 min/mile pace instead of a 9:30.  That's what I will do.