Fartlek A Go-Go

Having taken things easy since resting up, today marked the first true test of my troublesome calves. Though I know Thursday to be tempo day, I had to glance at my training plan to confirm what I was in store for this morning.
The word Fartlek was projecting back to me. A word that used to hold a lot of fear when I first started adding speed work into my regime. In essence Fartlek is perfectly suited to winter running. You could even rename it The Lamppost Game to make it sound fun! You run in cycles, jog, sprint, walk. When I first started this method I used to disregard the walk, not realising how important it was to prolonging the training. Without the walk you just get a depreciating quality of sprints and increasing in length pathetic jogs.
This morning everything went to plan. I eased myself in & after the five minute beep on my GPS started a half hour fartlek cycle. The sprints might have been slower than desired normally, but they were within parkrun range and still a push. By not sprinting flat out I could keep my shape and ensure good form. At no stage did I feel I'd overdone the sprint and need extra recovery as a result. There were even a few occasions where I extended the sprint, picking an alternative lamppost to target.
The workout was a good way to shake the cobwebs, an extra half hour in bed was very appealing when the alarm went off!
Saturday will hopefully see me line up at a parkrun, if I can persuade Mrs H to sacrifice a lie in!
I also finalised my plans for an autumn goal yesterday. The Richmond Running Festival opened for entries this week. Having read many good reports on Twitter about the event and seeing the awesome medal, I felt it was a good choice of race. Not enough UK events make an effort when it comes to medals, just look at the Run Bling you can acquire in the US!
This will be my third successive year of half marathon training over a summer, I'm hoping that by learning what works for me I can ensure I get it right this time. There is a possibility of two halves over three weekends as I'll enter the Royal Parks Half ballot when the time comes.