cross-training; 6K fartlek

Monday: 1 hr elliptical followed by a delightful soak in the hot tub at the gym. It was our Labor Day holiday, so I enjoyed the day off. Slept a bit later, and even got a nap, too. I needed the extra rest badly with all the house stuff.

Tuesday: still pretty tired; lots of house negotiations with buyers. Looks like things are moving along well though. But I was too mentally out-of-it to manage a hard workout, and besides, I only have 3 workouts per week right now to maintain fitness until the house stuff is over, which gives me added flexibility. So I opted to bike to work and do the elliptical for 30 min. That was a good choice, as I felt much more up to a hard workout today.

Today: Got to the track about 6:30am and it was pitch black out; the moon and a planet (Venus probably?) were out and were beautiful (see photo at left). Fall is definitely here, though at least the weather is not too cold yet. It was 57F (13.8C) at the track by my car thermometer, with about a 10mph breeze from the east (16kph). The wind wasn't a problem, though, and didn't make me cold. I did a 1600m warm-up with strides in 10:12, and my left piriformis (or maybe another muscle in that area) was acting up a bit. It continued to bother me throughout the workout though it did get better as time went on. I stretched thoroughly before starting the fartlek and also after my workout. Definitely need to get in some strength training, though the when of that is problematic right now.

Anyway, I got started on the workout and just told myself not to think too much, because my mind is busy putting forth negative thoughts about a lot of things. Not thinking was easier than I thought it would be; I just focused on staying in the moment and relaxing and thinking about technique. I didn't judge my performance (much), which is good because it wasn't stellar, but that is completely irrelevant at the moment. My body is only going to do what it's going to do given the current constraints, and I pushed hard and worked hard, so I am proud of that.

My first km was 5:49.7, and then my fasts were all about 2:54 except the last one, which I pulled out in 2:52. The medium effort 500s were 3:07-3:12 which isn't great, but again, no judgment. It's what came out, and I was working hard, as my average HR was 161 for the workout. Total time was 36:16, which isn't bad considering I haven't done a 6km fartlek in a while. 
Garmin data here.