Fartleks? After the Vino??

RUN: 6.2 miles in 60 mins. Was supposed to be fartleks.

I woke up not as sore as I thought I'd be, but definitely as tired as I expected. I check my iPhone for emails, and the first one I read in the morning is the TP.com email detailing my schedule. I'd expected an easy bike ride but instead found a fartlek run and a swim! Must have read the schedule wrong before.

Fartleks?!?!?!

I decided to push the run in the afternoon to recover as much as possible first (especially with these healing injuries) and to simulate an afternoon workout. That means I would have to keep focused on nutrition and hydration throughout the day in order to set this up right.

DH and I did some yardwork then grocery shopping, then I spend 3-4 hrs preparing all the meals for next week. The food of the week was collard greens, btw, and I made some great foods with it!

By the time I ran out the door at 430pm it was 90-95F again. I knew this wasn't going to be pretty, but I was going to make the best of it. I wore the Kinvaras (which btw should be retired and replaced with my new ones, the old ones at just over 200 miles and the wear is pretty evident on the soles) which might have been a mistake on my sore feet. Of all days to want footie cushioning, this was it! After yesterday's beating, my feet still hurt.

I was hot within minutes, thirsty in the first half mile, and drained of energy before I left Rez Park. So I made an on-the-fly modification to the plan: instead of hitting 5K or 10K pace, hit what I felt was a 5K or 10K effort based on how I felt. My HR was high so it didn't take much to feel the effort.

The ankle and knee were great, I only felt some mild pain on my medial left ankle and some tightness in my right knee left over from yesterday. Again, maybe the Kinvaras weren't the best idea for today.

I ended up walking after many of the intervals, and I was somewhat disappointed to see that I was barely squeaking by under 10m/m pace. But this is how my upcoming longer races will go--fatigued, high HR, and a struggle to find the effort. Great training.

Guess that's why fartleks were scheduled just after the Vino?