Beads of sweat or tears of pain?
Philosophers the world over have hypothesised that nothing is given, but rather earned; the destination isn’t what’s important – it’s the journey there that matters.
I’m currently at a point in my running where I can cover 13 miles with relative ease, even if I’ve been at work all day and have not had a chance stack up the carbs. I am however struggling to gain speed, only picking up a few seconds here and there; I don’t want seconds, I want minutes!
Speaking to people in the know, they have all unanimously suggested I undertake fartlek training. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play” and involves pushing your body’s tolerance to maintain higher speeds for longer. Few people can run at high speed for extended periods of time and the principle behind fartlek is that it should raise your average speed across the total distance. It generally consists of running splits for 45 – 60 minutes where you alternate between a pace somewhere between a gentle jog and your personal race pace for a few minutes, and then kicking it into high gear and running near enough at your limit for a few minutes, and then rinse and repeat until the session is over. Sounds easy enough?
I generally have a high threshold for pain and fatigue, but fartlek is something else for me. It gives the legs a much more robust workout, focusing on both slow-twitch muscles used for walking and slow running, and fast-twitch muscles used for sprinting. It should also improve lung capacity and stability when running at higher speeds, with the benefits trickling down. The methodology claims that your body should take to the new higher speed thresholds, raising your normal race pace in the process. As my opening line stated, nothing is ever given but earned and that certainly holds true with this training technique. The effort involved is immense where 2 minutes at near enough your running limit is tough and the 3 minute slower pace is only just enough to give you a chance to catch up with yourself. It’s a punishing regime but certainly spices up simple treadmill running.
My new running schedule for an average week now consists of:
- 1 x fartlek running at the gym
- 2 x 10 mile road runs
- 1 x 13 mile road run
I also signed up for the Silverstone half marathon again today. I really enjoyed myself at Silverstone last year where it is as close to mass running event organisation perfection as possible. There is ample on-site parking and facilities, the starting pens are well arranged. What I especially like is that the location is conducive to personal bests, not because of the course but rather the effort involved to get to Silverstone. I saw very few fun runners or costumed runners earlier in the year, with most participants dressed like true blue amateur runners. Most people know where to place themselves and the course is so wide that overtaking is not a problem at all. The 12pm start time works well for people travelling and gives everybody a chance to leisurely prepare themselves without needing to run around like a headless chicken in the morning. The low cost in return for what you get is great value for money at only £15, £2 cheaper than last year. Silverstone is also marketed as the official warm up race for the London marathon and for many, is the last race day they will face before the big day.
