Windy Fartlek

20 min. w/u (2.5 miles)
Target: 5x2 min. on/3 min. off fartlek
Actual: 4x2 min. on, 1x3 min. on
18 min. c/d (2.5 miles)
Total: 8.5-9 miles
Wind: 17mph gusting to 25mph

Despite being out the door and on the road by 7:30, today's run was pretty brutal. It was hot, humid and exceptionally windy. I was grateful that I didn't have a "real" workout on tap like Jordan, because it certainly wouldn't have gone well. Instead, I opted to do a fartlek as per the schedule I just received from Coach Simmons. Actually he'd scheduled a short tempo run, but since I did some uptempo miles on Wednesday I chose to borrow this fartlek from next week's schedule instead.

The nice part about fartleks is it's difficult to be precise about the pace, and when the conditions are as uncomfortable as they were today that's probably best. I managed to structure most of my southbound windy sections in my "off" segments, and as a result felt pretty strong throughout this go. I decided to extend the last interval to three minutes, as I had the wind at my back up Pickard, and I was able to close feeling smooth and under control. Having the wind at my back for the duration of the cooldown didn't exactly hurt either.

Oh, and it got up to 97 degrees today. 100 is imminent. Yay for summer in the south.