Fartlek Tuneup Workout

On another really nice, crisp, clear, cool (40 degrees) morning, a larger group of Gazelles met Gilbert at RunTex for the workout. Since many of us are racing either on Saturday or Sunday, today we did the usual pre-race fartlek tuneup workout, which was 10 x 1:00 fartlek accelerations with 1:00 recovery jogs between each acceleration. This workout isn't intended to be a blaster, just a recovery run, really, to get the legs snappy without using up too much of your legs.

Yesterday, after the two day workout series of the extended strides on Monday and the circuit workout on Tuesday, my legs felt extremely sore. My hamstrings were tight and stiff all day long, to the point that I couldn't imagine doing the easy recovery run yesterday. So, I was a little worried about what was going on there as I started the warmup this morning. I was dead last as I hobbled along on the warmup, trying to let my legs slowly get up to speed. By the turnaround at about a half mile, I had moved up a bit, and by the end of the 1.2 miles, I actually felt much better. The drills felt a lot better than they did on Tuesday, and although I took it easy on the finishing strides, I knew I'd be okay today.

My group was Amy, Joseph, Henry, and two other newer Gazelles, as yet unnamed. We started off and I told Amy and Joseph that I felt a little beaten up, and they agreed that they felt a little sore, too. Nonetheless, we got out there and did the workout in good fashion. Our overall pace for the Fartlek section was about 8:11/mile, with the recovery bits included, so the accelerated bits were well under 8:00/mile. I felt really good at the end of the 20 minutes of fartlek, and was happy to have come out for the workout.

After finishing off that last lap with some cooldown jogging and then 4 x 100m strides, we gathered as a large mob on the grass field there for some Gilbert form drills. These are somewhat difficult to explain, but they are variations on his recurring theme of "High Knees" and "Butt Kick." We drilled and drilled for about 15-20 minutes, and I think I was better at these than the last couple of times we've done them. Something about getting your brain out of the way helps you be more fluid with the movements. Again, these felt pretty good, and my legs were happier for having done them.

Since everyone was chilling down quickly after we stopped running, we left fairly quickly this morning, but I still chatted briefly with Gilbert about Decker before we all dispersed. After getting home, I stretched well, and I think I'll be in good shape for the race on Sunday. We get to sleep in, almost, on Saturday, meeting at 8:00 for an easy run before stretching at 9:00 am, which has been our standard pre-race routine. I'm looking forward to it.

Total workout: 4.5 miles, more or less, at 8:39 pace. The warmup, drills, and cooldown bits were about half that total, at 9:50 pace or so, and the faster fartlek bit was about half at the aforementioned 8:11/mile average pace.