8K, elliptical, 3K fartlek!

Wednesday morning (New Year's Day) I felt recovered, and so I did 8K. It was a bit of a slog, but not too bad. My legs held up well until about 6.5km, and after that the uphill and tiredness got me a bit. I still managed 8K in 50:31 for 6:14/km with ave HR 150.

Garmin data here. 

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Thursday I woke very tired and sluggish. I had thought about a 3km fartlek but decided it wasn't the day for it. I opted for 40 min elliptical in the afternoon after work.

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Today I felt good when I woke up! Yes, really - good! So I decided that it was time for the 3km fartlek Jim wants me to do weekly to get back in shape. I was dreading it a lot, as I know what speed work can do to my legs if they aren't good, but actually it went well considering.

I had to do the workout on the street because the track is under snow. It was decent out for a January morning, at -8C (18F). Yeah, that's cold, but it felt all right with the right gear.

I warmed up on a nice downhill, and felt good, doing 2K in 11:38 with a HR of 141. Then I did some dynamic stretching (my right flutes are still a bit sore from the soccer mishap early last week), took a deep breath, and got started.

My first 500 was too fast in 2:39. OK, it was on a downhill, but I should have paced myself. Thankfully I didn't pay for that too much, as it was a short workout and I felt decent today. The next 500m was a slight uphill and I did that in a good time of 2:54. Then my 500m recovery was 2:59, which I was pleased with and a bit surprised to see (I figured my recoveries would be 3:10ish given my lack of RW fitness). The next 500m (flat/slight downhill) I pushed to get 2:45, recovered in 3:00 (flat), and the last (slight uphill) 500m fast was in 2:55, which I was pleased with - I was quite tired at the end and with the uphill I figured it might be 3:00. Total time was 17:14 with average HR 162 and max 172 - yup, pushing hard.

I cooled down with a slow racewalk uphill for 1km. I figured I'd be sore all day, but really I've just had a touch of soreness and feel pretty good. We'll see how the recovery is tomorrow. I plan to RW at least 6km, depending on how my legs are and how the weather is.

Garmin data here.