12K fartlek

Today's workout was a tough one: 12K fartlek. I slept a little funny last night because I drank a lot of coffee. I was having a girls' night out with Michelle (while Loren and Calvin watched Monday Night Football at my parents' house) and I took her to IHOP to have breakfast for dinner :). I drank about 3 cups of coffee there, and then took her to Starbucks for tea and cookies, and I had a skinny peppermint mocha there. Yeah, that was a lot of coffee. I fell asleep just fine (coffee never seems to keep me from falling asleep!) but woke up around 2 am to use the restroom, and I was feeling a bit wired. I settled back down to sleep and woke up again at 5:15 am, and tossed and turned a bit. I got up at 5:30 so I could get to the track and do my workout. My legs felt a bit shaky (caffeine probably) so I had a banana before heading to the track.

Weather: 27F (-3C) and fog, but with a slight cutting breeze every time I went around the south end of the track. The track itself was mostly clear with a very few icy spots on the south end; I lost a little toe push on one or two strides only each time I went around, but I don't think it was enough to make a significant difference in my performance.

I warmed up for 1600m in the low-10-minute range, and felt slightly sluggish. I knew I'd have to start conservatively, so I did, doing the first 1km in 5:38. I struggled a bit to settle into a comfortable pace, and was slower than I wanted to be on my fast 500s. Other than the first one (the fastest, at 2:49), they were all 2:50-2:54. However, my recoveries weren't too bad, with 8/11 3:04 or faster, and the other 3 at 3:06, 3:06, and 3:08.

This workout was hard for me today, though. Like I said, I struggled to find a comfortable pace, and didn't feel like I settled in very well until about 7 or 8k into the workout. At the beginning of the 7th km, I actually stopped for about 15 seconds, and had a little chat with myself. It wasn't going the way I wanted, with 5K in 29:10, and feeling a bit flat, and so I told myself I HAD TO FINISH this one. I knew I had to be mentally tough. The 50K demands it. I started repeating to myself, "national champions don't give up" and continued that mantra in my head for the rest of the workout. If I want to be the national champion, I have got to be in the game mentally as well as physically. This workout for me was more about the mental toughness than the physical toughness. Of course I'm sure I'm benefiting physically from the workout, but to know that I hung in there, did not give up, and worked it hard to the end is gratifying.

My self-chat seemed to help me settle in, and I felt a bit smoother and stronger and finished just fine. In fact, I thought I could have done a few more if I'd had to at that same pace. I was glad I didn't have to, though!

Oh, and since this is the first time I've done a 12K fartlek, I guess it's a PR for this workout...for whatever that is worth!

Total time 1:10:50 with average HR 162.

Garmin connect data here.