Week 7 Plan and Fartlek Workouts

So I did not run this past week.  Well, I ran about a grand total of 5 miles but it was so miniscule that I'm not even counting it really.  It was way too hot this week and I guess I just needed a mental break.  But now there are 12 weeks of training left for the Chicago Marathon.  I have a solid base so far, but now I really need to step up the mileage.  I say that every week, don't I?  So here's what I'm thinking for Week 7:

Monday - 7.5 miles normal
Tuesday - Track Workout
Wednesday - 7.5 miles fartlek
Thursday - REST
Friday - 6 miles normal
Saturday - 16 miles normal
Sunday - REST

This would put me around 40-45 miles for the week.  I'd really like to get up to at least 40 miles a week here on out, but I seem to be struggling with getting in 5 or 6 quality days a week.  I did make a new running playlist though, so maybe that will get me going.  What's on it, you ask?  I'll share that tomorrow because obviously it's awesome and I like to push my musical preferences onto others.  I'm going with 7.5 miles for my runs on Monday and Wednesday because I figure I will just do the forest preserve loop.  I'll try to make Wednesday a fartlek workout.  Here are some of my favorite fartlek workouts:

• 10 x :30 hard with 1:30 easy = 20 minutes total
• 10 x 1:00 hard with 1:00 easy = 20 minutes total
• 3 x 3:00 hard, 3:00 easy, 2:00 hard, 2:00 easy, 1:00 hard, 1:00 easy = 36 minutes total
• 6:00 hard, 6:00 easy, 5:00 hard, 5:00 easy, and so on down to 1:00 =  42 minutes total

Each of those workouts would also include a warm-up and cool down.  And for my lovely friends or family reading this who aren't really runners and don't know what a fartlek is, here is a general idea taken from the always reliable Wikipedia.  "Fartlek" is a Swedish word meaning "speed play" that blends continuous training with interval training.  This causes stress on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.  Technically then, I guess the Yasso 800s I did a week ago could be considered a fartlek since it was continuous running with fast intervals.

In other athletic news, I bought rollerblades last week!!  I am excited to use them, but it makes me a little nervous because I know rollerblading is just completely different muscles than running and I don't want to get injured if I fall or something.  But I definitely want to try them out sometime this week.  Katie will be home from St. Louis this weekend for 2 WEEKS and she has rollerblades so I'm envisioning some trips to Lake Arlington or the forest preserve together coming up.  Apparently, inline skating marathons are a thing.  So now added to my list of ultimate life goals is to complete a marathon on rollerblades.  I seem to think that it would be easier than running, or at least is a shorter time span than it would take to run a marathon.

What is your favorite fartlek workout?

Do you have rollerblades?