R is for Rock the Parkway

February 6, 2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

Rock the Parkway is a little over two months away so I figured I’d mention this race first. A lot of runners will tell you that this half marathon (or 5k) is a must. I participated in 2014 and ran for a friend that could no longer run. Race week for me was tough. We had just closed and moved into our new home only to discover that the floors had to be refinished, which meant we had to move out and live in a hotel for a week. It was one of the most stressful weeks of my life (long story). Unfortunately, race day was not easy for me either – I struggled almost the entire race. I was tired and most certainly had shin splints. I got almost the exact same time as my first half marathon and I was dissapointed. (I’m super competitive with myself.) My current PR is 1:45 but my time that day was a lot slower. Some days just aren’t your day!

F is for Fartlek

January 23, 2015.Reading time less than 1 minute.

So what the heck is a fartlek? Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play.” As a runner I am super familiar with this word and yes it still makes me laugh when I say it out loud. Unlike tempo and interval workouts the fartlek is unstructured. After you warm up, you play with speed by running faster for short periods of time followed by easy running for recovery. You can easily work this in during a training run or fun run. The goal is just to keep it free and unpredictable while pushing yourself during those speed bursts.