8K fartlek on not-quite-recovered legs

Yes, today was a speed work day.

Yes, my legs were still tired from the half marathon on Saturday.

Yes, I was slow and found it difficult.

BUT, after almost quitting at 5K, I dug deep, found another gear I didn't know I had, and finished the workout on an up note. I told myself "mind over matter", and reminded myself that there was no judgment here because my legs are tired post-race. I told myself it didn't matter if I was slow, because speed work will make me faster. I remembered that I needed to be able to keep going on tired legs when I do the 15K in Riverside in just under 4 weeks (!). SO...I finished it! Photo and video included when I finished :).
I'm very proud of my hard work, and hopefully it will pay off. I need to get back my mojo and my mental confidence, and this was a start.

OK...so how slow was I? Haha, pathetically slow. I did the 8K fartlek in 49:08 with ave HR 160, so I was working hard. My "fasts" if you can call them that, were 2:53.7-3:00.4 (the 3:00.4 was at 5K, when I almost gave up, but thankfully did not; I pulled off 2:57.0, 2:57.1, and 2:53.8 for the last three!), and medium effort recoveries were 3:09.5-3:15.8 (the 3:15.8 was at 5K, and believe it or not I got faster on the last three recoveries too). I'm not proud of the speed of this workout, but rather of the physical and mental stamina that I found. That means something.

Garmin data here. 

Bonus: the weather was super nice this morning. 8.9C or 48F with a slight breeze. Awesome. I wore long sleeves and capris and gloves, and ditched the gloves after about 15 minutes and rolled up my sleeves. April is lovely when it's not raining or snowing :).

Some photos from the half marathon on Saturday: