Yay! Two weeks in a row and I've managed another speed session. 🎉
To keep it interesting, this week I did a less structured session and ran mostly on single track (tracks I know really well, so I know where I can floor it and when I need to ease back). 😁
I was pretty proud of myself; after a reasonable warm up (whoops, forgot to do drills!!! Next time!) I started doing typical Fartlek type running: I'll run flat out to that tree and then I'll back off.
So that's what I did: Challenged myself to run as fast as was safe on each trail until I got "those logs" or "that track junction" or "the bottom of that steep rise".
And instead of walking between sprint efforts, as per Brad (
The graphs below are telling!! The "best" pace of 3:21 was actually on a flat concrete driveway back out of the bush. When I looked closer, it looks like my two fastest efforts inside the bush were around 4:30/4:45 pace, which is amazing if we consider they were on single track.
Warning for newbies: Even though my session went super well, I do NOT recommend you do speed sessions on single track. I'm only doing this because I've been bushwalking since I was a toddler, running my whole life and know these particular tracks really, really well. Generally speed work on single track is a recipe for face planting. On a rock. Best to find some lovely cushy grass!!
Speaking of, maybe I'll do that next week - run on cushy grass that is! 😂
More graph things: cadence! Cool, hey? You can see how much the changes in track conditions plus my speed difference makes me change my cadence significantly. And no, I didn't think about trying to make my cadence do anything special in this run, I just focused on putting my feet somewhere stable and safe with every step. 😉
Graphs continued: Assume the heart rate info is mostly rubbish; I don't use a heart rate strap so this is just what my watch is picking up. I DEFINITELY got into Zone 5 in this run. How do I know? Because I had to use my very strong mind to act as Super Strong Cheerleader just to get me to keep pushing that hard on some of those top efforts. 😅
Enough commentary for today. 3.35km run in bush with a bunch of speedy bits, done ✅
Next time: Remember to do drills after warm up!!
Last photo taken by me. Graph screenshots are courtesy of Garmin Connect.
Definitely alive and thriving as I diligently work towards my goals of becoming a speed goat 🐐