8K fartlek

Today Jim gave me an 8K fartlek. I went into it trying not to think about the fact that I did 10K yesterday, or that my hamstring was a little sore, or that my stomach was a bit upset. I succeeded in not thinking too much :). Part of that was that I allowed myself to listen to music, which I don't usually do in my outdoor workouts, even ones at the track. I mean, I can't listen to music at a race, so why get in the habit? But I felt I needed a distraction, so I brought my headphones.

I did 1600m of warm-up with strides, did some PT exercises and some dynamic drills, and then got started. The weather was exceptionally calm (NO wind - and this track always has wind, well a breeze at least!) and cool at 6.1C (43F). It was pretty nice, actually, and that helped a lot.

I talked myself through the first 1km thinking "data" and "getting stronger", meaning that I shouldn't judge my times, just regard them as data for now because I'm just trying to get stronger. And to my surprise, I was better than last week by 45 seconds. OK, it was still pathetically slow, BUT that doesn't matter right now. The last 3km my legs were tired, but the most important thing then was watching my technique like a hawk so I wouldn't injure myself. I was SO careful! My hamstring was a bit tender at points, 1-2/10, but not bad, and it has hurt a bit since, but again, not anything to get alarmed over, and tomorrow is a cross-training day. My foot didn't bother me at all. So, I'm happy about that. The times will come, at least that is what I'm telling myself, even if I'm not sure I believe it.

Total: 50:05 with ave HR 158 (though my HR monitor was moving around a lot and the readings don't look right; I suspect it may have been a bit higher?).

Edited to add: had terrible, terrible intestinal issues afterward that have persisted ALL. DAY. LONG. Left work early because I felt too ill to do anything properly, and was thankful for my undergrad who picked up some things that I really HAD to get done. I wonder if I have some sort of stomach bug?

split	time	cumulative	ave HR	max HR
1	02:57.2	02:57.2	146	157
2	02:59.9	05:57.0	159	163
3	03:11.4	09:08.4	157	165
4	03:00.7	12:09	160	166
5	03:13.7	15:23	155	162
6	03:03.2	18:26	158	164
7	03:13.1	21:39	155	163
8	03:01.1	24:40:00	158	165
9	03:15.6	27:56:00	157	161
10	03:01.9	30:58:00	161	167
11	03:18.0	34:16:00	159	164
12	03:05.4	37:21:00	158	166
13	03:18.5	40:39:00	162	167
14	03:05.5	43:45:00	160	167
15	03:18.1	47:03:00	162	165
16	03:02.2	50:05:00	163	168
Summary	50:05:00	50:05:00	158	168