Full Norwegian, interrupted

This morning I had in mind to do a full Norwegian fartlek workout. It's a great workout, and one I can do on the roads instead of the track, which is nice :). It goes like this: 10 min warm-up, 2 min fast (10k to tempo pace), 2 min easy, 4 min fast, 2 min easy, 6 min fast, 2 min easy, 8 min fast, 2 min easy, 7 min fast, 2 min easy, 5 min fast, 2 min easy, 3 min fast, 2 min easy, 1 min fast, 10 min cool-down.

I did do the whole workout, and had fun; however, it was interrupted by a couple things. 1) after the 8 min fast I really had some GI problems and stopped to use a restroom in Liberty Park. I haven't had any GI problems in a while but whatever it was was probably caused either by a virus or something I ate, because I had some trouble last night and later this morning, too. At least I was still able to do my workout :). 2) during the 7 min fast I saw a friend (Team in Training - from the summer team) in the park and stopped to chat for a few minutes. Other than that, I was able to do my workout without interruption, and my dog Copper (pictured) happily kept up with me. She can handle the fast workouts, while Sahara, our other dog, cannot.

Here were my paces (by Garmin) and HR for each fast segment:
1) 9:23/mi; 140 (pretty low, but it was downhill and at the start of the workout)
2) 9:42/mi; 146
3) 9:41/mi; 152
4) 9:27/mi (10k pace!); 151 (wow HR is still pretty low for this pace)
5) 9:32/mi; 156
6) 9:52/mi (some uphill); 158
7) 9:48/mi (some uphill); 160
8) 9:46/mi; 157

Pretty good workout. My HR was a bit lower than I'd like for some of the longer intervals; maybe I need to think about stepping up my pace? I think I might be getting 1) fitter as I've been training harder for a few weeks now, and 2) more efficient in my gait as I have been racewalking for a few years now. Finally, the added weight loss can't hurt :). I am wearing a pair of jeans today that is super comfy; a few months ago they were too snug to wear more than a few hours. Yay!