Week 16 Recap (a change of pace)

Fresh off my first duathlon, and looking to "pick up the pace", Week 16 provided for me my first "great run" in nearly two months. For the first time, I decided to try a new running style called "Fartlek". I know the name sounds absolutely disgusting, but it's actually Swedish for "speed play". When someone is running a Fartlek, they vary their pace and intensity over the course of the workout. What's great about Fartlek running is that it's fairly unrestrictive, that is, you run how you feel. You can speed up and slow down as you wish. When looking at my pace over my entire run, you see several peaks and valleys.

The valleys on the graph are when I sped up, the peaks, are my slower pace. As you can see, over the course of the 8.5 mile run, the distance I ran at a fast pace varied from nearly 1/2 mile to just a few hundred yards. Like wise my slower pace varied not only in "how slow" but also in distance. Here's a close-up shot of part of the run.

This running method proved perfect for me, as I typically don't like a lot structure with my run, but would prefer to run as I feel, but it also provided me with the results I had hoped. Over the 8.5 mile run, my average pace was 7:21 minutes/mile. Like I said, it was a great run, and made for an overall great week of running.

My Week 16 totals were:

Total Runs logged: 6

Total Miles: 26.93

Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 19 minutes, 38 seconds
Average Pace: 7:25 (min/mile)

With Week 16 down, my new "as of" Totals are:
Total Runs logged: 85

Total Miles: 479.5

Total Time Spent Running: 62 hours, 8 minutes, 40 seconds

Average Pace: 7:47 (min/mile)

REFLECTION TIME: It's great to have a new tool in my running tool belt to help me keep my workouts interesting. Realistically, I am somewhat limited on my routes and the times I can run (it's just too hot during the day), so a little speed play is a good way to avoid getting into a running rut. With there being no requirement on how fast or far you have to run, I'm free to run as fast or as slow as I want for as far as I want. That type of freedom keeps running fun, and as an added bonus, the benefits of Fartlek running is hopefully, faster runnning time. It is definitely something I'll be using again.

Now with 1 week left in April, and so close to the 500 mile mark, I new it wouldn't be too difficult to make it, but would still take a little discipline (spoiler alert, I made it). The details of Week 17 are coming up...NEXT.