Fartlek + Progression. Average pace: 9:43.
Weather: 27°F, 63% humidity, wind 7.5 SE.
I ran on the Highline Canal Trail. It was covered with a thin layer of fresh snow when I started, but most of the snow was gone by the time I finished. When I got up this morning I didn't really want to go out and run because it looked so snowy and cold, but it turned out to be a beautiful day with clear blue skies and sun.
I ran the first 6 miles at an easy pace (10:24 avg), then for the next 5 miles I did 24 repeats of 1 minute at 10K pace (I shot for about 8:30, but might have been a little faster some of the time) and 1 minute easy. Then I did 1 mile easy (10:44), and finished with 2 miles hard (8:37 avg). I really pushed hard at the end.
To keep track of the 5 mile fartlek portion, I set up a workout out my Garmin that had the first 6 miles as one lap, the next 5 miles as one lap, the next mile as one lap, and the last 2 miles as one lap. During the second lap, I put my watch on a display that showed current pace (so I could try to get the right pace on the fast portions), lap distance (so I would know how far into the 5 miles I was), and lap time. Each time the seconds on the lap time got to 00, I would switch pace. If the minutes on the lap time was an even number, I ran fast, and if the minutes on the lap time was an odd number, I ran easy. I didn't track individual laps for each minute in the fartlek portion because that would just be way too many laps. This system won't quite work when I have a similar workout again in a few weeks because that time the fartlek/easy intervals are supposed to be 90 seconds.
I've got a really easy week next week. I'm feeling fairly strong and not particularly like I need a rest, but maybe I should take advantage of the easy week so that I'll be ready for the hard weeks that follow it. | 