T54 - Fucking Fartleks - Run (Treadmill)

Gainesville

R: 90 minute tempo workout
wu: 10 minutes RPE 2-3
main: 7 x (7t, 3r) (7minutes tempo at RPE 7, 3min recovery at RPE 2)
cd: 10 minutes RPE 3


2 Lipodrene
Despite the mildly-obscene sounding name, Fartleks are tempo intervals that were apparently devised by a guy named Fartlek. I'm not joking. Anyway, today's workout looked to be especially brutal because it involved 7 sets of these, where you run at tempo (slightly faster than your race pace, but not a sprint) and then recover for three minutes. And, as we know, I am not a fan of running fast. I tend to do these on a treadmill because it's the only way to ensure your pace stays at the appropriate level. Even when you you push it, your natural inclination is to slow. So I went over to GHFC and used their treadmills.

I started out using the iPod, because a Fartlek workout almost requires some sort of external motivation. I once again used my Summer Run 2009 mix, and did the warmup at 6.0 I managed to get through the first 3 Fartleks at 7.5, with a 5.0 recovery, which again is not impressing anyone, but was tough for me. By the time I got to the middle of set 4, I was already looking at the clock every 30 seconds to see if I was done yet, and I my breathing was getting really labored. So I dropped it to 6.5 for the next 2, with a walking recovery. By the time I got to the last one, since I knew it was the last one, I went back up to 7.5 and felt pretty good.

I would have liked to have kept the 7.5 pace the whole time, but 70 minutes of Fartleks is not easy. Try it. So I was pleased with how I did, going about 10 miles in the 90 minutes and burning around 1500 calories. The iPod music didn't exactly line up, as I found myself walking during the apex of some of the high-energy songs, and I think I need to give the iPod and the sumer run mix a little rest. The music isn't as firing-up as it has been. The workout left me as tired as I'd hoped. I went out to the parking lot and started to get into the wrong car I was so out of it. In my defnese, it was a baby blue Saturn parked 3 spots away from my car, with a Marine Corps sticker on the back and Florida plates.

But it was good to see I was so dizzy and dazed from the effort that I wasn't recognizing my own car. I also forgot to take a gel, which I'm getting in the habit of taking on any workout over 75 minutes. I also tok two bottles, one with water and one with Gatorade, both of which helped me prevent a dehydration headache.