first 10K fartlek - PRs all around :)

Boy, was I scared of this workout. I know that sounds silly, but I was. I got up at 5:15 am so I would have enough time to do the workout and then meet Lisa at the gym, but I totally procrastinated getting to the track. I really had to psych myself up to get over there. This sounds silly; after all, it's just a workout, right? But I think I am still gun-shy after all the rough workouts I've had over the last year. Anyway, after procrastinating, I didn't get to the track until just before 6 am.

It was 36F (2C) and calm and clear. Nice weather, actually! (It was nice yesterday too - in the morning. It was 42F (6C) and calm and overcast, though later in the day a wicked storm came through complete with thunder, snow, and rain). We have had such a wet spring that any clear day is a happy day :). Somehow the mornings have been pretty good, though, and I haven't had to take any workouts inside. Hoping it stays that way!

I was pretty sore from yesterday's 15K and the 5x800 the day before that. My muscles definitely had not recovered. I needed the warm-up badly! I took it very slowly, especially at first (did the first 400 in about 2:45), because I was stiff and sore in the upper hamstrings and glutes. I was definitely nervous about how my legs would hold up. I finished the 1600m warm-up in 10:28 (pretty slow for me, but that was intentional!), though I did give the last 200m a good kick to complete the warm-up. Then I did lots of dynamic flexibility drills, both to procrastinate the workout and because I wanted to be good and stretched out with how tight my muscles were feeling.

Reluctantly, I got started. After the first few km, though, I settled in and felt good and wondered why I'd been so afraid. I deliberately took it a bit easy to start, knowing I had a long way to go. I got to the first km in a nice fast 5:37, despite taking it a bit easy. That was a good sign! My first recovery was 3:03, which was quite fast as well. This was looking good. My first 500 was 2:50, and that seemed about right. I figured that was close to a pace I could keep for 10km. I told myself to keep it under control and keep it comfortably hard but no harder, as I had 10km to do. I got to 2km in just 11:30. Wow, this was going well! I passed 3K in just 17:25, still feeling very good. I kept it under good control through 5K, feeling strong. My legs felt surprisingly OK to this point. Best of all, I got to 5K in just 29:23, a 5K fartlek PR by 10 seconds! I was feeling quite confident now, though I knew the hardest part would be the last 5K.

Continuing on, I got to 6K in 35:25, a 6K fartlek PR by 19 seconds. I was still feeling good, though definitely starting to tire at this point. I told myself to hang on because there were only 4 hard 500s to go. My legs definitely were feeling it by 7K, my slowest 500 at 2:55. My recoveries had dropped to 3:10s by this point. However, I now had it as my goal to get to 10K under 60 minutes, and was pretty sure that would happen unless I totally tanked. My legs were quite tired, but I thought I had another 3 in me. I made it to 8K in 47:32, an 8K fartlek PR by 20 seconds! I was hanging on and managing to keep 6:00/km pace, despite how tired I was. The last 2km I didn't manage that, but my legs were pretty trashed by that point, and I'd never done a fartlek this long, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I got to 10km in 59:43 with ave HR 158, which I think is a pretty darn good time for me. My HR was slightly lower than a typical fartlek workout, but I think that was good. I needed to know I could go the distance, and so holding back a bit was wise. I am glad I did, because the last 2km were very tough, so I think I actually paced this just about right.

My 10K track PR is 58:43, and this workout was just 1 minute slower than that. I am pretty sure that if I'd raced 10K on the track today, I would have broken my PR, tired legs or not. I think Jim said I could subtract about 30-90 sec from a 5K fartlek to get approximate race pace, and so for 10K it would be a bit more I assume. In any case, this was a great workout and I'm pleased with it. It was hard, but not as hard as I'd imagined, and I won't be so afraid of it next time. Doing workouts with good iron levels is so much more pleasant. This just felt comfortably hard until the last 2K, which was a welcome change from the exhaustion of workouts last year.

Summary: 1K 5:37, then 500s in 3:03, 2:50, 3:04, 2:51, 3:08, 2:51, 3:08, 2:52, 3:09, 2:52, 3:10, 2:55, 3:09, 2:53, 3:12, 2:54, 3:12, 2:54.

Garmin connect data here.

***

I was obviously late to the gym to meet Lisa, but she was forgiving. I decided not to lift today, as there wasn't much time. Instead, I stretched out my hamstrings, glutes, piriformis, calves, and quads quite thoroughly, and did a bunch of core exercises with Lisa. That felt great.