Bikes, Wind and a Fartlek

Since we last heard from our hero (that would be me), I've been really busy. We had a bike race at work this weekend. And despite soggy weather, it went really well, but it tired me out. I wasn't racing, but I was running around assisting with the organization and taking photos and video. I did sneak in an easy 3-mile run on Sunday morning, which was really good for my psyche.

I only ended up with one day off this week, but it was nice and relaxing. Starting the day off by getting up eventually and eating a huge breakfast is always a good thing. The only negative is that it's really hard to motivate once you slip into the food coma. For some reason, this food coma extended into my run, too. I didn't feel quite right until about 6 miles in. Weird. However, it was a nice run out through the Commons and down to Simpson's Point. I often forget how close to the ocean we really are. It's always nice to see the view.



Today, I did my first almost speedwork in a really long time. I decided that a fartlek would be a nice way to ease myself back into the world of speed—much easier mentally than 6x800 on the track or some other form of torture. For those who haven't heard the term before, fartlek is Swedish for "speed play." It's also makes me feel like I'm making a poop joke, so that's always a plus. Basically, it involves adding a series of harder/up tempo periods within the run. Anywho, I ran the usual 5-mile, not quite out and back in the Commons. Therefore, it was mostly trail. I ran 4 minutes easy, 4 minutes hard. The easy minutes were at my normal pace, 8:30ish, and the hard minutes were at a pace that I felt like I could hold for 4 minutes without blowing up. The end result was 5 miles in 36:00 flat for a 7:12 per mile pace.

What does this mean? I have no idea. Felt pretty good, though.