Arbitrary Fartlek

Time: 34:47
Distance: 5.29 miles
Pace: 6:34
Map

This afternoon was out fourth Let Me Run practice. We took the boys down to the greenway to run. I've been trying to get the boys to work on pace better and run as a group more. It's definitely a slow going process right now. The practice ended with a hill sprint race on the grass field near Hillside Road going up to Park Road Montessori. I won.

After practice I felt that I needed to get in some extra miles. And, the only time my nose isn't stuffed up is when I'm running. I wanted to breathe freely so I tightened the running shoe laces and headed back out towards Freedom Park.

Just as I was nearing the greenway, I got to thinking about how I haven't done anything too hard or fast this week. I decided that once I hit Freedom Park, I was going to pick up the pace significantly and run hard until my form broke down. Then I would run easy until I felt recovered. I repeated this routine for 5 hard efforts and the pace and splits ranged significantly.

Splits:
#1 - 50.37 for .18 miles at 4:36 pace, (84.56 for .21 miles at 6:43 pace)
#2 - 44.47 for .16 miles at 4:31 pace, (1:56 for .28 miles at 6:53 pace)
#3 - 52.77 for .20 miles at 4:27 pace, (1:50 for .27 miles at 6:53 pace)
#4 - 53.54 for .19 miles at 4:35 pace, (1:46 for .25 miles at 7:01 pace)
#5 - 40.95 for .16 miles at 4:10 pace, (ran home)

This mini-workout, if anything, was fun to do. My buddy Tarpy, likes to run fartleks at the beginning of new cycles because they are easier on the mind. Getting mentally up for 10 x 3 mins hard, 1 min easy can be less taxing than 10 x 1k in 3:00 with 1 min rest. Today's effort was also good for me to work on form. Every marathon cycle that I do gets me further away from the track and workouts that keep the legs sharp. Aerobically the body adapts to running efficiently and the lungs seem to grow, but the quickness in the legs slowly disappears. Running hard for no particular distance or time will help me transition back to some faster, tougher work.