Wednesday, January 04, 2012

8K fartlek - 14 second PR!

I liked last week when I got to work out in the daylight. But, we're back to work and school and all that good stuff, so it was out to the track for a dark 8K fartlek. The weather wasn't bad for Jan 4th though: 25F (-4C) and calm. I warmed up and felt smooth and fast today. I did 1600m in 9:55 and then some dynamic stretches. Then I tossed off my fleece jacket (didn't need it - just the long-sleeved shirt and tights with shorts and T-shirt underneath was enough, along with gloves and hat) and got started before I could get cold. I surprised myself with the first 1km in 5:24, and I felt great. Nice. When my first 500m medium effort was a 2:54 and my first 500m hard effort was 2:43, I knew it would be a great day. It was. I got to 5K in 28:04, just 6 sec shy of my 5K fartlek PR, and feeling strong. 8K came at 45:15, 14 seconds faster than my previous PR for an 8K fartlek. I felt really strong on the last 500m hard effort, doing it in 2:43! All my hard efforts were 2:43-2:46, and my medium efforts were 2:54-2:59. Very nice. I feel very confident and ready to take on the 50K.

Total for 8K: 45:15, 5:39/km (9:06/mile) with ave HR just 159. I was working hard, but the HR was not as high as it was on Saturday for the 10K fartlek.

Afterward, I went to the gym and did core exercises with Lisa. After the 50K I'm going to get back to some serious lifting again to stay strong for upcoming races :).

Garmin connect data here

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Also, a HUGE shout-out to my mom, who reached her goal today in Weight Watchers. I forgot to ask her what her total is, but it's in the neighborhood of 35 pounds, and she looks FANTASTIC! Way to go, mom!!!!!

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