A short fartlek Thursday

I had vague aspirations of cruising a half hour this morning (not on the program), but getting home around midnight from the Finn Brothers concert at the Opera House put paid to that. I had a 6:15am appointment with Martin Horne which involved some acupuncture and a manipulation, giving some improvement in the hip.

Turned up at Centennial Park a bit before 6pm, got through a 4.1k warm up in 19:36, and went through the usual pre-session drills.

With races up at Mt Penang on Saturday, it was only a 3k fartlek session, and I had a hazy target of sniffing around 3:30 per km pace. Didn't feel flash through the warm up, but felt a bit sharper through the drills.

Got through the laps in 3:36, 3:32 and 3:27 for 10:36 (rounding error). Didn't really flog it through the nominated 'easy' areas of the laps, so seem to be generating a bit more speed, which is pleasing. Wasn't 'smashed' at the end, and could probably have put out another sub 3:30 pace lap. Quite pleasing - reckon I'd definitely be on for around 17:30 or better for 5k.

Worked through a 3k cooldown in just over 16 minutes, before heading off, taking advantage of the early finish to catch a decent portion of the stretch session at freespirittraining's Run Club with EliseS.