I wasn’t in for this run when I got up this morning. While te body was strong the mind was struggling due to being a bit tired form this work week.

Anyhow, I’m glad that I went to the track and pushed myself to do this 4×60 seconds speed run combing my 5k, 10k and 1500m paces. After finishing my last set I continued with 4 extra rounds around the track. I wasn’t expecting that to happen when I crossed the starting line for the first time today.

My current paces:
5k pace @ 4:30 per kilometer
10k pace @ 5:00 per kilometer
1500m pace @ 4:00 per kilometer

🔥 5:00 Warm up
👟 1:00 minute at 5k pace, 1:00 minute active recovery
🔁 Repeat 4 times
❄️1:00 minute extra recovery
👟 1:00 minute at 10k pace, 1:00 minute active recovery
🔁 Repeat 4 times
❄️1:00 minute extra recovery
👟 1:00 minute at 1500m pace, 1:00 minute active recovery
🔁 Repeat 4 times
❄️ 10:00 Cool down

It’s Tuesday again and that means time for another 7AM morning run on the track. I decided to do a combination of a speed run at 5k pace and tempo run at 10k pace this morning leading to a total exercise of 42 minutes including active recovery time, warm up and cool down.

With the current weather and the early sunrises, these runs are pure joy to the mind and body and very different to the cold and dark experience in December and January.

🔥 7:00 Warm up
👟 2:00 minutes at 5k pace, 1:00 minute active recovery
🔁 Repeat 3 times
👟 10:00 minutes at 5k pace, 2:00 minutes active recovery
👟 2:00 minutes at 5k pace, 1:00 minute active recovery
🔁 Repeat 3 times
❄️ 5:00 Cool down

I did a 65 minute long run this morning averaging a pace of 5:17 per kilometer. I’m happy with the result and still felt strong at the end of the run.

I’m thinking that my running through the winter season is now really starting to pay off. Compared to other years my pace and endurance is significantly better this year. It’s time to start thinking about signing up for a race again.

This was my fourth run this week with the total distance covered being 34,13 kilometer. Not bad!

I repeated a speed run I did a few weeks ago today. I like this track speed run, it’s a good speed exercise that is not as exhausting as this Fartlek exercise.

I appreciate how comparing runs in this run log is showing me my evolving over time. My average pace today was 6:00 per kilometer, my fastest pace 4:01 per kilometer. A month ago I did 5:51 per kilometer in this run with my fastest interval being 3:44 per kilometer.

While the pace was slower today, I feel fitter than a month ago.

🔥 5:00 Warm up
👟 3:30 at 10k pace, 120 sec active recovery
🔁 Repeat 2 times
👟 2:30 sec at 5k pace, 120 sec active recovery
🔁 Repeat 2 times
👟 90 sec at 1500m pace, :60 sec active recovery
🔁 Repeat 2 times
👟 :30 sec sprint pace
❄️ 5:00 Cool down

Today is a bank holiday in the Netherlands which gave me the opportunity to fit in an extra run this week. I went for a 60 minute time boxed run after lunch where I combined two different speeds: recovery pace and 10k pace leading to an average pace of 5:38 for this run.

🔥 10:00 Warm up at recovery pace
👟 40:00 at 10k pace
❄️ 10:00 Cool down

I wasn’t able to complete my regular Tuesday morning run yesterday due to having to go back and forth between London and Amsterdam yesterday for work. Such one day travel means getting up early and returning home late, and being a little tired this morning.

Because of that tiredness I took it easy today and only did a 6k easy run this morning before starting the workday. As tomorrow is a bank holiday in the Netherlands I will be trying to fit in an extra long run this week. Let’s see how that works out.

I thought today would be a good day to mix things up a little. Instead of going for my regular Sunday morning long run I went to the track today to combine a 20 minute Fartlek run with a 20 minute recovery run (3,16 km). Including warm up for the Fartlek I did a total exercise of 46 minutes.

The Fartlek that I did was the 20 minute time based Fartlek that I’ve done several times before. As it’s time based I can compare over time if I’m making progression or not. Today I made progress, as I covered more than 5 km for the first time in 20 minutes. I wasn’t expecting that progress half way the run for sure as this exercise was definitely a tough one. It’s a bit crazy to see now that I covered more then 400 meters more then last time, almost a month ago.

I went out this morning for a 30 minute out and back run at a very easy recovery pace a little over 7k per hour. While my initial plan was to go out for a speed run, my body wasn’t ready for it today. I guess it has to do with a couple of bad nights (warm weather and thunder storms) in a row.

Anyhow, running never gets easy and is all about consistency. I’m happy that I went out and all set for the last workday of the week.