My First Fartlek.

What is Fartlek? Well, I'm glad you asked ...

"Fartlek" is Swedish for "speed play" and consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. Essentially, it's an unstructured interval session, the track without the rules. Fartlek gets your legs used to a variety of paces and in the process gives you an enhanced awareness of your ability to keep up those paces at various distances.

I finally started a half marathon training program, like I have been threatening to do for a few weeks now. I found one that I am much more excited about than the previous one I talked about. My program can be found here. I'm adjusting it to fit my work schedule and to add in a couple days of crosstraining a week.

The first run I did was a 4 Mile Fartlek session. Basically you warm up, then run fast intervals and recovery intervals. Its not a structured interval though, no set distance or time. I'd just run easy, and then sprint to the next telephone pole, or to the next mailbox or whatever. I have to say it kicked my butt! I was getting pretty tired by the middle of the 2nd mile, but I was able to stick it out and finish the 4 miles.

My splits were:

Mile 1 - 7:51
Mile 2 - 8:13
Mile 3 - 8:20
Mile 4 - 8:18

I need to find a new place to do my long runs that will be coming up. I get tired of running the same route over and over again, and especially doing multiple laps on the same route. I live on a main road though and there aren't alot of safe places to run on the road near my house. I need to do some exploration for new locations. It just seems silly to drive across town to go running.

This weekend I will be running my first 8K race. I know I can do it, but I'm a little nervous about it.

On a different note: Chex Mix is the devil! I made some homemade Chex Mix a few days ago to get rid of some stuff I had in my house and I cannot stay out of it. I really shouldn't be allowed to have it in my house. I have no self control when it comes to Chex Mix.