5K fartlek

Weather: 65F (18.3C) and sunny - gorgeous!

Workout: 5K fartlek - 1K hard, then alternating 500m medium/500m hard until the end.

How I felt: Was kind of sleepy and wondered if I'd wake up enough for a good workout. But by the end of my 1.83km warmup (just over a mile), I felt reasonably good. I threw in a few strides to get the fast twitch muscles going, did some dynamic flexibility drills, and off I went. I felt pretty good through 3K, and then was tired but still able to push hard. I really gave it my all for this workout, and I was thoroughly exhausted at the end.

More details: I did the first 1K in a very quick 5:31 (though it was slightly downhill; about 3m). The 500m times were 2:51, 2:42 (fast! flat, too), 2:50, and 2:48 (and this on a very slight uphill, 3m, and at the end of the workout). My 500m medium were 3:08, 3:12, 3:17, and 3:21 (yes, I was tired on that last one, but it was also 4m of uphill, slight, but enough to really notice). Total time: 29:45!!!!! That is almost as fast as my 5K race a few weeks ago. I'm definitely getting in better shape. My coach says that 5K fartlek time minus 1:20-2:00 is 5K race time. I cannot imagine that I'd be able to do more than 1:20 faster, but even that would be a 28:25, a PR by 11 seconds. I'd take that! We'll see. I have a 5K race next Saturday, July 3rd, the Murray Fun Days 5K.

My coach said it was a good walk today :). I'm happy :).