AM running in Montrose. I had a CV fartlek scheduled for today and decided to give it a shot. I warmed up for a couple miles, heading east, at about 7:15/mile pace. Then I wanted to do a mile at tinman tempo pace to prime my body before the fartlek. However, all I could do was 6:40 for that mile. I figured it might have been due to a slight headwind, the higher elevation (6000'), and not being awake yet. I started the fartlek, and all I could do was hold 5:43/mile pace for 2 minutes, then I quit. Took a 1:30 break and decided to try again. 6:03/mile pace for two minutes, then I went anaerobic. Quit again. I decided to turn around to see if I'd have better luck. Turned around and saw the city of Montrose several hundred feet below me. The problem was that I was going uphill (about 100'/mile)! It was such a steady incline, I just didn't notice, other than pace. And the headwind didn't help either. Now with a decline and a tailwind I was able to really get going. 4 minutes hard at 5:12/mile pace (0.77 miles). 2.5 minutes recovery. 4 minutes hard at 5:07/mile pace (0.79 miles). 2.5 minutes recovery. 4 minutes hard at 5:04/mile pace (0.79 miles). Ran a few miles easy and then found a large grassy park. Here I decided to take my shoes off and do 4 strider repeats in the grass. They were all about 32 seconds, but start and stop point was not constant. According to the garmin, my pace splits were 4:31/mile, 4:08/mile, 4:15/mile, and 3:57/mile. So the equivalent of running 200's in 31s or so. I'm not sure how accurate the garmin is at those short distances though. (1120: 12 miles --yeah, new shoes!) | 