running blog

Chasing three distances, with a fourth in the background, has slowed me down.  Why three distances?  My three are 5k, 10k, 15k and in the future the half marathon.  5k and to a certain extent, 10k are simple.  I simply run as fast as I can, without holding anything back,  My times were between 8.5 and 9.3,  However, when I run a longer distance,  I have to start breaking distance barriers, and start thinking of endurance.  So the point of the run is not to complete it as quickly as possible, but to think of saving energy and building endurance.  It’s no longer speed, its endurance.  So I’m no longer concerned about PBs, but about building strength to complete a longer distance.  My time has fallen from 8 minutes to 9 minutes and now to 10 minutes per mile.

That’s fine for the long run, but then when it is the same time for the parkrun, I start to get worried and discontented; even though I know I should be happy with my time, because I am currently building endurance, not speed.

Here we go tomorrow for another 11 mile run.  I hope that my time will be 9.5 minutes for mile.

For the novice runner there are new terms to learn, and fartlek is amongst the strangest.  You can run,  you can do interval training, tempo training, and fartlek. 

The word means “speed play” in Swedish, is continuous training with interval training. Fartlek runs are a very simple form of a long distance run. Fartlek training “is simply defined as periods of fast running intermixed with periods of slower running.”

Interval training is precise: you run quickly and recuperate for fixed intervals of running.  Fartlek you decide on the go when you want to run fast, how far you want to run (to the next lamppost) and when you want to slow down.  You can run faster than you median speed, or you can run very fast.  The randomness assists your running, as you would in a race when you want to pass some-one, or speed up, or conserve your energy.  Fartlek is definitely an aid to the novice.

Today I ran 10 miles: from Folkestone to Hythe and back along the promenade.  It was an improvement on my previous long run as my leg muscles were not quite so stretched and sore.  I plan to do a long run and incorporate parkrun into the middle of it.  Once you have run that far it is a pity to waste it.

Now back in Training mode for the MK half.  My training schedule says 18 miles this week, but I will probably do more as I want to do a 10 miler next Monday.  10 miles only comes in on week 6 or 7. Because I am not starting from scratch, as the training schedule provides for,  I have already built up a lot of resistance.  I have also got my Folkestone 10 mile in mid April to think about.  My short runs are around River.  Tomorrow I am off to Whitfield which provides for longer runs: village and country roads.