3K fartlek

This morning I had a little trouble waking up :/. I didn't go to bed that late, but I am still a bit tired from last weekend. I should have gone to bed earlier last night, but have to catch up on all the household stuff after being gone. Never a break for this mom! But that's OK.

I did manage to get up soon enough to get myself and Calvin to the OUTDOOR track by 6:40am - yay! It's not under snow any more! And it's light out now at 6:40am! Well, until daylight savings starts in 2 weeks :/. I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Bonus: not only was it light out, but it was pretty warm at 3.9C (40F) and calm and clear. The sunrise was beautiful as we arrived at the track, but I left my phone at home by mistake, so no pictures, sorry.

I was happy to have Calvin's company this morning. We did the warm-up together; I started slowly and did the 1600m (with 2x100m strides in the last lap) in 10:25 or so. The first 2 laps were quite slow as I just focused on technique and getting a firm foundation for the workout. After the warm-up we did some dynamic stretches and then started on the fartlek. Calvin was new to the workout but I explained it to him as we warmed up, and he got it just fine. I told him to go his own speed, since he runs much faster than I racewalk. He is a good runner for his age! He did the 3K fartlek in 14:15, which is 7:40/mile (4:45/km), and he lapped me (of course!).

My fartlek was a little better than last week, at 17:58 total time and 2:53.8, 2:57.0, 3:11.5 (medium), 2:55.2, 3:09.8 (medium), 2:51.0 splits. I didn't push at my absolute hardest effort on the first 1km and the second 500m hard; more like 90% as I was trying to make sure I didn't hurt myself and watching my form. I am still feeling very cautious about the speed work. The last 500m I let 'er rip, especially on the last 100m, and it felt OK. Pain was 1-2/10 about like yesterday. Mostly it was just a mild aching but stronger twinges at times which is a good reminder to check form. My average HR was only 157, so clearly a little room to push more, but the last 500m was 164 average and 170 max, which is good. I have to be patient. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I need to do 20K faster than this morning's pace by October...but obviously that thought crossed my mind. I'm just not going to dwell on it. Train, eat right, sleep more (! bad at this!), cross-train, yoga, and PT, and it'll happen. Hopefully. And if not, well, I can have a good vacation with friends or something :)?

Garmin data here.