Group Fartlek?

Trainer Bug took the SAFRA MF runners on an interesting 12km routine this evening. The plan was to run at varyring paces of 2km(E)asy + 4km(R)ace(P)ace + 2km(E) + 4km(RP)
E :SafraClub->DepotRd->RP:CanterburyEstate->E:AlexandraRd->
TelokBlangahRd->RP:HendersonRdJunction->HarbourFront->
TelokBlangahRise->SafraClub
where Race Pace refers to the runner's 10km race pace

I ran what I thought was a rather fast 2km warm-up, mostly alongside leh-lio, who was taking this run as a recovery from her 'hard' Passion Run on Sunday. Once we hit Canterbury Estate, I ran at my 10km pace, and a tad harder, to keep up with the front group. TLH and Alber were mostly with me along this 4km stretch. It was a good sustained hard run till we ran back out to Alexandra Rd. We paused and waited for the rest to come in, before doing a OTOT slow jog along Alexandra Rd to junction of Henderson Rd.

From there, I waited for the rest of those from behind, before going for the final 4km tempo paced run. I was suitably worked out by the time we reached the ClubHouse, but still felt good. I liked this varied pace training, and hope to do more of this. According to Trainer Bug, such training can help foster group running at a steady pace, as well as improve sustained speeds for long distance runs. I tend to think there is sound logic to this. We shall see!

Distance: 12km__Time: 1hr10min__Pace: 5:50min/km