Monday, December 19, 2005

Week 2 - Day 1: Fartleks

LOL - I know, I know...the title is amusing. However, the fartleks went well this morning! Incase you don't know what "fartlek" is, below is how coolrunning.com describes it:

"Fartlek" is Swedish for "speed play" and consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. Essentially, it's an unstructured interval session, the track without the rules. Fartlek gets your legs used to a variety of paces and in the process gives you an enhanced awareness of your ability to keep up those paces at various distances.

The schedule said 5 miles of fartlek, including a mile each of warm up and cool down. I did it on the treadmill, and actually did it more along the lines of intervals (I prefer to have a little more structure) - here's the breakdown:

1 mile warmup @6 mph
1 x 400m @ 8mph
1 x 400m recovery lap @ 6mph
1 x 800m @ 8mph
1 x 400m recovery lap @ 6mph
1 x 800m @8mph
1 x 400m recovery lap @ 6mph
1 x 400m @ 8mph
1 x 400m recovery lap @ 6mph
1 x 400m @ 8mph
1 x 200m recovery @6mph
1 x 200m @ 8mph
1 x mile cooldown

All that totals 5 miles. It was fairly uncomfortable, but not unbearable. I think that's how it's supposed to be. I also had some time to get some swimming in this morning...I did 3 laps of drills, and then 2 sets of 10 laps (500 meters) each. I felt more comfortable today; I didn't get water in my ears the whole time, but I still didn't accomplish the balance I want in the water. I can feel my legs sinking and causing way too much drag. I have, at times, felt balanced - like I was crawling on top of the water, but not lately...I may need to get out my Total Immersion book and get serious about the drills again.

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