Fartleks and a Dark Helmet

Tuesday 14^th May 2013

Running (6.20 Miles / 00:55:56 / 00:09:01 per mile / HRZ 2.8)

I was a bit in two minds before heading out for the run this evening as I was planning on doing the tri Club hill session on the bike this evening also.  That would mean a pretty heavy load on the legs tonight, which would be interesting, given the hill session the previous night on the bike also.

One of the things that I want to do a bit on runs now is inject a little bit of pace variation, even if it is only for short distances. The Swedes call it “Fartlek” which translates as Speed play.

It just means upping the pace for a while and then going back to normal speed.

In my case I wanted to do about 5 Fartleks and each one around 0.1 miles long and at fairly sharp pace.(for me!)

Lots of people do Fartlek runs and the idea is not to be too prescriptive, the distance can vary, the speed can vary and it is different to interval training which is much more defined.  A good way of doing it is to use lampposts and maybe sprint between these as markers.

Anyway, the run went well as a whole and the Fartleks were good and I averaged about 06.40 per mile pace for each of one.

The final mile and a half of the run was back up my dreaded hill home and that really did take it out of the legs and then just to prove how hard I was, I did a final Fartlek at the top of the hill.  That’s just how I roll!

Cycling (11.54 miles / 00:57:22 / 12.10 mph / Cadence 70 rpm / HRZ 3) Elevation 418M

After a brief half hour rest from the run, it was out on the bike and on to the hill.  This should be fun!

Yesterday felt hard enough on the hill and I suspected that this might feel a bit tougher.

The rest of the guys went bombing off up the hill ahead of my, as I had expected and I just ground my up at a relatively steady pace.

First set went OK and was marginally faster than the day before, same for the second set as well.

Sets three and four and fatigue started to really set in to the legs.  The pace slowed substantially.  Almost two minutes slower per set than the first one and that horrible sickly feeling as the fatigue really set in.

The descents were much more fun than last night as the wind had died down and I was able to top out over 40mph fairly comfortable.

Scarily – Mark topped out at 55mph on the way down.  That is bloody fast!  It must have been his new helmet. The new Giro Air attack.  A very fancy helmet indeed with aero styling and visor.  He did have a touch of the Dark helmet look about him from the Mel Brooks film ‘Spaceballs’ though. 

 

If I could go up as fast as him and come down the hill at 55mph I would happily look like Dark Helmet.

This hill training is hard but I know that it will help in the long run as it did last year in my training and the strength it builds will no doubt lead to increased fitness and I’m hoping that will translate to speed.