For some reason, this has become a spot I like doing speedwork on. It is flat and fast, so that's part of it. There also are minimal road crossings and the ones that it does cross are very lightly trafficked. It is scenic too as it runs along the Lehigh River. The gravel surface is nice and forgiving too.Fartlek is funny looking, but it means "speed play" in Swedish. It is really an unstructured speedwork session. You pick a spot, like say a pole up ahead and run hard to it. You can vary paces and distances. Like normal speedwork, you recover in between hard sections. Recovery time can be based on how you feel too.
This type of run was perfect for today and early on in my training. My goal was just to get some speedy running in amongst a week of a lot of running. It was a good way to incorporate some speed without taxing myself too much. It is also perfect to practice the changing paces that often occur during a race.
I started off by warming up for three quarters of a mile. After that, I did a short hard run to a gate. It was about .03 miles. I forgot to adjust my watch. Even though this type of run isn't meant to be structured, I do like to add some structure to it. Rather than run to objects, I pick distances to run. I use my Garmin watch for this.
This actually sort of turned into a ladder workout. I started my second hard segment by running for .10 miles. I build up throughout the run. After short recovery, I then went hard for .15 miles. These were all out efforts, but they were definitely out of my comfort zone.
I then did a .25 mile segment and .15 mile segment before turning around. My recovery time varied depending on how I felt. My peak distance on the way back was .30 miles of hard running. I did that segment at a 7:00 pace. Some of the earlier segments were faster, at around 6:30. I was definitely falling off a bit by this point. I can run fast, but not for too long.
This wasn't a true ladder workout in that I didn't going exactly the same distances up and down. My last segment was a .15 mile hard run. It was a solid 6:39 pace. My legs were feeling it at this point. I just tried to be solid and run with good form. It is interesting because early on, my lungs were hurting and making the run tough, but by the end it was my legs that were slowing me. All in all, my pace was fairly consistent throughout the fast and slow segments. That shows that I have a darn good feel of how to run effort wise.I finished the run up with a three quarter mile cool down. I hate long cool downs after speedwork, but this wasn't bad. I started thinking about my form and tried to work on keeping my elbows more straight during this segment. My elbow position isn't bad, but they do swing out a little. My form is pretty good and I wouldn't change it, but I do want to look at it more and find some little tweaks that can help me run more efficiently.
This was a perfect workout for what I was hoping to achieve. It gave me some good speed without draining me. I had a lot of energy afterward and felt I could do more. That's what you want. I also wasn't too sore. That's a big plus in the middle of this week. I did 20 miles last week and I'm already up to 17.50 this week, with three days of running to go. I'll definitely be over 30 miles when the week is over. Not a great idea to jump so much, but I plan on resting after surgery on Monday. Hopefully the rest and recovery will me less, not more.
Tonight I'm going to take some more pictures of the LVRR's Summer Series 5k race. It is free and fun and a good time. Food afterward is a nice bonus too. Tomorrow, I'll be leading the group run again in the evening. Hopefully someone will show up. I plan on doing about 4 miles myself.
4 miles - 35:00 (8:45 pace)
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