Fartlek! Hehe!

Fartlek.  Fartlek.  Fartlek.  Hehe, 'scuse me!  That word always makes me giggle! 

Yesterday was a glorious afternoon so I headed out about 3 for my run.  The dog was as happy as I was to be out in the sun. It felt like spring! That is actually a very bad thing for me. I will now be looking for more signs of spring and it is still January.  Yet that was certainly not going to keep me indoors and in denial!

I wasn't feeling the greatest so I almost switched to a close-to-home hill workout.  In the end, I stuck with the plan for 15 x 1:00 hard/ 1:00 easy.  After 1.5 mile warm up, I hit the lap button on the Garmin to start the program.  (I love that feature!  It is great to program the entire workout and just follow the beeps.)  I tend to start too fast and have a hard time finishing up on the same or faster paces.  I worked hard at going hard, but not too hard.  Run tall and strong with a straight back. 

It felt great.  I can start to see the change in my stride with the inclusion of strength training to my program.  I run stronger and can control my speed better.  I can run harder longer before I start to slump forward.  I finished the workout exhausted, but still could have managed another couple of repeats.  It felt right.  It felt good.  I told Indy what a great job he did and was telling myself the same. 

I have always hated intervals like this.  Yet the more I do speed work, the more comfortable with it.  And, believe it or not, I think I may actually be starting to like it.  (Wow, that was a lot of qualifiers.)  I feel so strong and so weak when I finish the workout.  I feel like I can do anything after a hard workout.   

Warm Up 1.5 mi @ 10:14

8:53, 8:50, 8:37, 8:45, 8:49, 8:13, 7:59, 8:20, 8:22, 8:20, 8:26, 8:23, 8:12, 7:48, 7:32

Cool Down 1.37 mi @ 10:40