Fartleks on a Long Run

I didn't feel like last week's long run would be fast, so instead of being depressed at my splits in my "normal" workout, I decided to do fartleks.

But it actually ended up being decently fast!

I used my "standard" fartlek workout (a version from Coach Jen all those years ago) of efforts of 3 mins, 2 mins, 4 mins, 1 min, and 5 mins. Then the "rest" of easy running between are half the effort (so 90 sec after the 3 min effort, then 1 min easy after the 2 min effort), but sometimes I round all the "half minute" easy running up to the nearest minute, which is what I did this time. And then I repeat it. So it looked like this: 3 min hard, 2 min easy, 2 min hard, 1 min easy, 4 min hard, 2 min easy, 1 min hard, 1 min easy, 5 min hard. Then a 3 min easy break before starting it over again. It sounds hard to rememeber, but it's just jumping back-and-forth (lower then higher then lower etc.) between 1 and 5 minutes of efforts.

Here's what I ran with the efforts in bold. My Garmin takes half-mile splits, so the distances and paces you see for longer intervals are what the half-mile splits were:

3 hard: 2:57 (5:55), 0:03 (0.01 miles, 5:47 pace) = 0.51 miles
2 easy: 0.26 miles (7:42)
2 hard: 0.34 miles (6:00)
1 easy: 0.13 miles (7:49)
4 hard: 2:54 (5:50), 1:07 (0.20 miles, 5:44 pace) = 0.70 miles
2 easy: 0.27 miles (7:32)
1 hard: 0.18 miles (5:35)
1 easy: 0.13 miles (7:51)
5 hard: 2:59 (6:00), 2:01 (0.35 miles, 5:51 pace) = 0.85 miles
3 easy: 0.39 miles (7:46)

3 hard: 2:50 (5:41), 0:10 (0.03 miles, 5:57 pace) = 0.53 miles
2 easy: 0.25 miles (8:00)
2 hard: 0.35 miles (5:40)
1 easy: 0.13 miles (7:32)
5 hard INSTEAD OF 4 ACCIDENTALLY: 3:01 (6:04), 1:59 (0.35 miles, 5:46 pace) = 0.85 miles
2 easy: 0.25 miles (7:57)
1 hard: 0.18 miles (5:30)
1 easy: 0.13 miles (7:40)
5 hard: 2:55 (5:50), 2:05 (0.38 miles, 5:32 pace) = 0.88 miles
3 easy: 0.40 miles (7:28)

Out-and-back, so you can see the final set of 5 hard efforts here...


... and here they are labeled (in minutes) in case you couldn't tell.

I did fartleks when I was overheating in Jamaica, so I can't really compare times with that workout 2 months ago (not shockingly: I was faster now).

But looking back to this same workout from last August, I was also slightly faster now! An early March workout should NOT be as fast as mid-August! (This warm winter has allowed for some good training, and it's showing!) In my first half of the workout, my "hard" distances ended up being the exact same in Aug as last week (some shorter or farther by 0.01 miles, but averging out to even), but my "easy" distances were 0.07 miles farther last week. And in the 2nd half of the workout, I went 0.03 miles farter in the hard efforts (not counting the accidently longer 5 min effort... which was also a bit faster in pace compared to the 4 min effort from Aug), and my easy distances were 0.03 miles farther. Not HUGE numbers, but current late winter numbers that are similar to late summer numbers is a GREAT SIGN FOR RIGHT NOW!!

(Also a great sign as that post from last August mentioned that workout being equal or better than the 2 previous times I did that workout last year, and now last week, this was just a bit faster than that fast time!)