I've only been writing the blog for 6 months & yet I'm already struggling for Fartlek related titles!
My second week in the lengths swimming class went better than last week. Nine lengths completed and I'm getting to about 15-20m before struggling to breath. Stamina is building and if I can add another half hour of swimming elsewhere in the week I'll be making progress.
The good news was that I woke up pain free, no abductor pain to concern me. This meant I could head out for my usual Thursday tempo session. I was also free of time concerns as I'm working a later shift this week and the tube strike means I'm better off trying to get in on time rather than early.
The Run
A glance at my schedule suggested a forty minute fartlek session. 40 minutes!! My previous best was 30, so this would be more of a challenge.
I very nearly didn't make it out of my road. As I set off my left Achilles / lower calf was immediately painful. It crossed my mind to abandon the run and rest up, but I persevered and found the pain easing up within a couple of minutes. I'll need to ensure I'm warmed up properly before any races as I probably can't afford easy KM in a half marathon or 10k.
I took 5 minutes easy & then begun the fartlek cycle. In order to get 40 mins I headed up to the Forest Hall Park estate to start some fairly level laps. Three laps of the estate almost completed the allotted time so I turned for home. Throughout my pacing was good, I felt able to push the sprint parts and used the walking sections to rest up properly. It was a good workout and my easy pace to end was surprisingly quick.
The Conclusion
If I could continue this form throughout my training then I think I'll make significant increases to my pace. Once the pace is there I just need to ensure my stamina in longer runs can match it.
Not sure what the weekend will bring, I'm working overnight on Friday so I'll pack my parkrun kit & see how much sleep I get.
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