theRunnersRun: Fartlek Self-Talk

Me: Okay now at that tree you're going to pick it up until that light.
Me: Which tree? That tree?
Me: Well, okay maybe the one after the driveway but you're definitely not slowing til the light.

...

Nothing induces self dialogue like a fartlek workout. :)

Street sculpture. Foto taken on my run.

Until about a couple weeks ago, I had been getting my weekly speed fix at my running club's weekly Tuesday night track workout. Since I started doing those workouts I feel stronger and more consistent. I have really gotten used to this fast workout with friends as a part of my routine. Due to lame circumstances, however, we no longer have use of the indoor track so until mid-late March I'm on my own trying to figure out speed workouts. In reading around, I was reminded that track isn't the only way to add speed to your runs.

My first conscious attempt at shaking things up was this week's Fartlek.

A Fartlek (swedish for “speed play”) workout involves sprinting and jogging off and on during a run (The Runner's Resource). It's like playing...you run fast for a bit, then slow, then fast again for a longer bit (maybe) then slow again...it can be structured or unstructured.

Wednesday's run was the first time I tried one of these workouts and I'd say it worked out pretty well. My scheduled called for me to complete 5 miles total so I decided that I would use the first and the last mile as warm up and cool down and I would run the 3 miles in between with 2 minute pickups of 30-50 seconds per mile faster than my base pace.

I was roughly planning to run a base pace of 12 min/mile and pick it up to about 11:30-11:10 pace and hold that for 2 minutes.

The paces were all over the place but in the end, I think I got the result I wanted. I was able to run hard enough to "feel it" but not too hard that I couldn't keep running when I returned back to my base pace. 5 miles was probably a long distance (for me) to start with-- I ended up walking a some of the last mile-- but I will definitely be doing this again. At least, until outdoor track starts up in March.

Also:

I did a solid 10 miles (last Saturday). My longest run since last summer. Felt good! I taped my arch for this run because I new I needed the extra support on the trails. Such a good idea. My foot did well on the run and has been great all week.

New shoes! I bought them on a Christmas sale at the New Balance outlet but I'm only now breaking them out. My Mizunos have over 380 miles on them but I like them so I'll probably keep them around for short stuff. I got a good deal on these NB's and depending on how they do, the pink and blacks will be come my main pair. The black and gray pair are for trails.

Still figuring out the action cam. I've been having trouble with it freezing on me. No good. Also looking at anti-shake options. Hopefully I'll figure it out.

Here's a short little video I did to test out the new camera.