this week so far

Monday: Workout was 8K plus 5x200m intervals. What I actually did: 6K. I started off and my legs were just not feeling fresh and ready to go. In fact, they felt tired. I had a bit of soreness on Sunday after the 8K Saturday; not sure if that was from the 8K or from the carpet cleaning I did for a couple hours on Saturday helping a friend who was moving. It was quite vigorous cleaning involving stairs, hauling around a heavy cleaner, running up and down stairs with lots of water, etc. I don't know if it caused the soreness, or if I was just tired, but I was. My 6K was slow, and I actually listened to my body and tried not to push too hard, which is one thing I've learned from what I've been going through in the past year and a half. Time was 39:31 for 6:35/km with ave HR 142. Garmin data here.  Oh, and fall weather is definitely here. The air was crisp but it felt good at 52F (11C). The days are clearly shorter and it's getting light a lot later.

Tuesday: Cross training. I did 35 min elliptical, 10 min of core work with Kelly, and then rode my bike to work. Felt good to do the core work. I am a bit weak but not as bad as I thought I might be.

Today: 5K fartlek. I was short on time as I had a bit of trouble getting up (stayed up too late reading last night...sigh...I could use a little more down time!), and so I did only 1200m warm-up with strides. I felt pretty good, though. Definitely better than on Monday! The weather was quite nice at 48F (9C), and I wore capris and a long-sleeved shirt with light gloves, which I took off during the last couple km of the fartlek. The fartlek went pretty much exactly how it's been going all summer - OK, but not great. My legs felt decent, my wind felt decent, but yeah, not great. I just don't have very speedy 500m medium effort recoveries, and while we're at it, my 500m fast aren't that fast either. Time and more training should cure this eventually. I focused on just trying to be positive and happy that I could be out there training, and not judge myself for the results. That worked pretty well, mostly :). My time was 29:46, with ave HR 159; fast intervals 2:50.6-2:53.8 and medium effort 500s 3:06.8-3:09.9. Garmin data here.