Rainy Fartlek workout

Yesterday morning I attempted my 2^nd fartlek workout in 7 days. Last week, the temperature was so hot that I felt like I was melting and that was while running on the trail. This week it was a total shift. Instead of being unbearably hot, it was extremely humid and at several times a steady rain.

Starting the run with a 2 mile warm up, I next headed on to the trail. Then, it was push hard on the flats and uphills while cruising on the downhills and rocky sections. I use a 2 lap system on the North Meck trails. A single loop is somewhere between 3.5 and 4 miles.

My first loop was 29 minutes even. I then took a 2 minute recovery before heading back on to the trail in the reverse direction. This time I covered the same distance in 29:05. My first loop was slower than last week by 50 seconds but the 2^nd loop was over 2 minutes faster than the 2^nd loop from last week.

Both times were a far cry from my best times which are in the 24 minute range, but the season is early and I am just getting rolling. My injuries will soon pass and the strength and speed will come.

I finished off the workout with 3 easy recovery miles on the little ½ mile loop in the back of the park.

 

All in all, it was solid effort and no advil today.

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner.