Final Workout

I ran a good hard fartlek workout this morning with WVR in preparation for the 5k race Saturday. 13 people showed up for the 5 am run, apparently a record.  I stayed with the pack at an 8:32 pace for the first mile to warm up and then tried to chase after the speedsters in the group. I managed 7:38 for the second mile which included most of my fartlek sprints. That is right where I need to be in order to hit my 24 minute goal for the race, but it is going to be tough to maintain that for a full 3.1 miles. I faded in the last 1.5 miles, but I was running on my own at that point. The two fastest members of our group left me in the dust and then turned off at the 3 mile mark. With no one to chase, and no one challenging me from behind, it was hard to maintain my pace. I also stopped the fartleks for the final mile. I averaged 8:16 over the entire run, just shy of 4 miles. That’s just 31 seconds/mile slower than what I hope to run Saturday.

I am a little worried about the heat. I expect it to be well into the 80's when the race starts at 7:30.  Working in my favor is daylight.  Most of my training in recent weeks has been pre-dawn and I usually run faster when I can actually see where I am going.   My hope is that these two factors will negate each other.

My plan is to hold back just a little for the first mile and then gradually accelerate. I’m hoping for splits of 8:15 and 7:45 for the first two miles, then as long as I can finish the last 1.1 in under 8 minutes I will be fine.

I plan to do an easy 3 miles on Friday just to stay loose. It will be hard to hold back.