Before I get to today's blog, here's a very quick lesson in Swedish for those of you not familiar with the word 'Fartlek' - it means 'speed play'.
I'm working from home today so went out for a nice early run on my own (for anyone who's thinking I'm not doing much work if I'm typing this - it's lunch time, I'm allowed a break!). Duncan dropped me off on the road to Belmont and I set off through 'Old Rachels'. I hadn't actually set out to do any kind of session, just have a nice run, but I was feeling pretty good so decided that after a mile warm up, I'd do a bit of speed work.
It was such a beautiful morning and I was too busy admiring the scenery that I actually missed getting to the one mile mark (even though my watch not only beeps but vibrates too!) so it was a bit further than a mile before I started speeding up. Because I didn't want to spent time looking at my watch and I hadn't set it to a structured training session before I set off, I decided to just fartlek and not stick to any distances/times. I just set myself some points to run fast to and then allowed myself a little break when I got there and continued doing this for four miles.
From Old Rachel's I headed along the path all the way to Lead Mines Clough. There were lots of sheep with lambs along the path and, after my incident a few weeks ago, I must admit I was a bit scared. Most of them ran away before I got near them but there were the odd few which stood glaring at me until the last minute and then ran away which put me a bit on edge as I felt like they were going to come and butt me!
I then ran through Lead Mines Clough and out towards Yarrow Reservoir, before heading down to the bowling club and following the reservoir back towards home. It was such a relief when my watch beeped at me for five miles and I could slow down as I was really exhausted by this point. My mile cool down run home was painfully slow but I felt really drained. It felt great though and I wish I could remember this feeling as I always dread sessions like this and forget that they actually make me feel really good when they're finished. I suppose it's the opposite of the child birth thing people keep telling me - you forget the pain. In this case, I forget the elation!
On looking at Strava, the majority of my run was downhill but I'm still really pleased with how well I was doing as quite often I looked at my watch and I was doing a 6.45 minute mile pace and quite comfortable (my best race pace is 7.45 minute mile).
Anyway, back to work now :(
Total distance - 6 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/147179080/overview
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