3km fartlek

After a shocking 12km walk the day before and then jumping on to a spin bike for two hours....I was not holding up my hope that today would be a good walk.

It was on my program to do a 5km fartlek but my coach had earlier sad he didnt want me doing fartleks until I was not hurting any more. When I got to the track and started unlocking the rails...I could feel how strong the wind was and figured that a 5km fartlek was out but that I could try for a 3km as I really felt like a need to feel as if my heart rate is right.

I did 3 laps to warm up and then started into it. The first 400m felt surprising easy and good, my breathing was hard but not gasping so I tried to keep the pace up for the next 400m and I ended up slowing a little. Now I could really feel my glutes working hard. As they were tender from the spinning it was easy to feel them as they started to work harder. Next up was the recovery 500m and I was breathing heavy for the first half but started settling again ready for the next fast 500m.

The wind had started to pick up and it was getting colder too. I had one last fast 500m to go. I had forgotten that awful feeling when your nervous system gets all confused and my legs started turning to jelly. I had 200m to go and was having trouble just keeping my legs moving. I was concentrating hard on style and bringing my knees through low and straight. I hit stop and carried on slowly back around the track....My glutes were really fatigued now but the good news was I had no pain during the walk...but after as I walked normally back to the start I could feel pulling in the hip flexor. So I am glad I only did 3km.

Not long after all my walkers arrived for the weekly coaching session. Jamie came for the first time, he is 13 and I know that he will end up being NZ's next best thing. He has a natural style and a willingness to learn. He really wants to look towards Olympics in 8 years. So I got Peter Hague to come down and take Jamie under his wing. So now there is 10 of us walking each Sunday! A great wee group.

1st km = 5:12
2nd km = 2:57 = 2:34 = 5:31
3rd km = 3:02 = 2:35 = 5:37
total time = 16:22

3km fartlek