8K fartlek - 11 second PR!

Today's workout: another 8K fartlek. Last night I was dreading it a bit. It's not that long, but it's hard, and I'm feeling a bit tired. Life is busy, and I've been feeling slightly sluggish about everything this week (work, stuff at home, etc) so it's not just the workouts. Anyway, I felt better this morning when I woke up.

Weather: It was supposed to be 34F for the low, but it was actually 31F (-0.6C). Chilly, but it's going to get colder as winter arrives, and it honestly wasn't bad once I was warmed up. I wore 2 long-sleeved shirts, tights, headband, and gloves, and that was good. It helped that there was no wind.

I warmed up in about 9:44 for 1600m including some strides in the last 400m, and then did some dynamic stretching. It was still dark when I started the fartlek, but by about 3-4K it was light enough to see my watch without my headlamp. I felt good and fast just like I did last Thursday, and started off with a 5:26 for the first km. I surprised myself with a 2:54 for the first medium speed 500m, and followed that up with a 2:44 fast one. Then I thought maybe this would be a really good day. It was! All my fast 500s were 2:44-2:47 (the last one I worked really hard and got 2:45!) and my medium 500s were mostly 2:56 and 2:57 with one 2:59.

Intermediate splits: 16:48 for 3K, 28:16 for 5K (a PR for this distance for a fartlek!).

Total time: 45:29, ave HR 162, 5:41/km or 9:09/mile. Smokin'!

Garmin connect data here.

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Tomorrow is an easy 10K, and then Saturday I'm doing the Tri-States Marathon starting near St. George, UT, and going through Arizona to finish in Mesquite, NV. It's a nice downhill course, and I'm under STRICT orders from the coach to be sure to keep the effort easy and do the race at a training pace. I could still be pretty fast if I have a good day (but Jim - I promise not to push it!!!).

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Some fun quotes about the 50K from my friend Karen Karavanic's website:

"Fifty-kilometer racewalkers consider themselves the toughest of the tough" -- Elliott Denman

"Veinte kilometros es para ninos y cincuenta kilometros es una distancia para las mujeres." -- Mexican saying, in translation "20k is for children and 50K is a distance for WOMEN" :)