Dark Fartleks

It just stayed dark this morning all the way around the lake loop as we did our fartleks. It was nice and chilly, around 27 degrees, which is totally okay with me! I felt great all the way around.

I ran with a new group (to me, at least), since most of my normal pace peeps weren't there today. Brian, Rachel, Michael and a couple of others were up ahead, but I missed out on them early. So, I hooked up with Monique's crew, and I was a happy camper. Still feeling my way back into speedy stuff since the long marathon recovery period, I was content to hang out with this new gang. It wasn't a stroll around the lake, either. We took turns leading, and everyone did a good job pulling the bunch along when they took their time at the front. I had watch issues, so I don't have the usual super detailed data from the fartleks, but suffice it to say that we were moving right along on the faster bits. We stood around for most of a minute at Mopac while a couple of folks grabbed water, so that mile was artificially slower.

Gilbert sneaked up on us during our cooldown run at the end of the workout, so everyone picked it up a bit once we realized that that's who was joining us. :-)

Stats: 9:20, 9:14 (warmup), then first fartlek burst at 7:13/mile pace, then miles at 8:57 (extra recovery minute in that one), 8:19, 8:33 (the one with the Mopac stop in it), and 0.33 miles at 7:59/mile. Warmdown miles at 9:09 and 0.51 miles at 8:53/mile. 6.92 miles for the day, overall pace 8:51/mile. We were doing 1:00 on and 1:00 off fartleks, so we did a good job with pacing, I think. It was tough at the detour on the north side of the trail to maintain a good steady pace for just a bit, but we got past that soon enough.

I had fun out there today, and it was interesting to run with entirely new people for a change. I've got to learn some names!!!

After we got done, Gilbert opened up the Annex, so I did the full stretching routine, more or less, since we were inside in the warmth of a closed building. My legs will appreciate that tomorrow, I'm sure.