I feel the need for speed
Eager to get my body back on to speedwork, I visited the gym for my first fartlek session in nearly 2 weeks. It’s amazing how much your routine is thrown into disarray from just one missed session, with everything feeling slightly alien.
I’m seriously struggling to know how tight to tie my shoes up, because the first few kilometres were agony for my shins. I used to believe that they should be loose enough to allow for some movement, though I’ve found this movement to irritate the soles of my feet and create blisters. A loose shoe also works against any speed running in the later stages of distance events. I think I’m going to now tie them up so there is no heel slippage, and then loosen them slightly to allow for this sudden build up of pressure to escape somewhere.
The fartlek session itself was decent, with my breathing being a good barometer for how much stress my body is under when running. At no time did my breathing become laboured and performance wise, I still felt as good as I did on the last fartlek session.
What I am now pondering over is whether it’s worth turning another one of my 10 mile weekly runs into a fartlek session at the gym. I know I can cover the distance no problem, so a regular 13 mile run shouldn’t be necessary anymore. Running Fitness magazine recommended a 13-14 mile easy pace run about 3 weeks before race day as a primer to settle the mind and nerves that 13.1 miles is more than possible. Fartlek at the gym is also a lot less stressful on my legs, though I don’t want to get to the stage where my legs are knackered due to lack of road running. I almost need to add another fartlek session to my week without removing anything. Another thing I have to factor in is that the weather is quickly heading south and with each week, there seems to be 15 minutes less light in the evenings again. My 10 milers usually take around 90 minutes or so to run, meaning I normally don’t get started until past 6:30pm.
With less than 6 weeks left for training, I think there’s few opportunities left for injuries or skipping sessions if that elusive sub 2 hour finish is in my sights.
