Enough Resting

. . . Now where was I?

Aaaahhhhh yes, running round the village in tights, feeling ever so slightly self concious!.

Now it would appear, despite my descriptions Jan had vastly overestimated the speed of the lope because as I said 'go' she shot off and was half way to the pond before I had reached the end of the track.  I wasn't particularly worried, I had been 'marathon training' for some weeks longer than she had so I smiled a knowing kind of smile to myself and thought, she's gone too fast, she'll regret it later on.

Realising I wasn't behind her she turned around and ran back to me,
'is this the lope?' she asked
'yes' I said 'this is it'.
'you don't speed up at all?' she asked, like she thought there must be a second gear.
'no' I said 'this is it'
'ok' she said, the reality of just what we were dealing with setting in now.
'you shouldn't start too quickly anyway' I said like I was Haile Gebrselassie running mate
'No' she called as she started to pull away again

I continued to plod along at my usual pace as Jan trotted off on her toes like a thoroughbred pony in a dressage competition, she would go so far and then bounce about on the spot like Mohamed Ali on speed while she waited for me to catch up.  At times she ran back and attempted to lope with me for a few paces before pulling away again, other times she walked alongside me, still managing to keep up and told me that she actually found it easier to go faster!.  I got to the end of the Mall where she had stopped (I've broken her I thought) 'we'll go up and down again' I panted (again smiling inwardly) 'ok' she yelled behind her as she shot off again on her toes up the hill.  On the way down on her third or fourth trip back for me she started flapping her arms up and down telling me it helped geese to get off the ground, it really didn't help me and it wasn't - at the time - particularly funny either.

We made it home and I think reality struck for both of us.  Jan was aiming for sub-4hrs (which I think means under 4 hours?) I was aiming at anything ahead of the dustcart's,  we were either going to have to work out a compromise or all our 'crossing the finish line' training we had done Christmas night was going to go to waste because we wouldn't be finishing together!

Yesterday before Jan left for home we went out again, I recited over and over 'it's easier to go faster, it's easier to go faster' . . . it wasn't, I just got out of breathe quicker and had to walk a couple of times in order to breathe.  On our return we held a meeting on the patio and it was decided that my cardio vascular system needs a great deal more training.  This I now realise is where the 'fartlek' training comes in.  It's all about doing short bursts flat out and this is what increases your capacity to train, meaning you are building each time you go out to go further, faster and recovering more quickly - at least I think that's what it does???.

So, I'm here on my own now, contemplating a little bit of 'Fartlek' for the afternoon but I feel I've left it a little late, all I want to do is put something daft on the TV and curl up in front of it but I know I can't do that, I must get out there.  Next week Jan will be doing 'bootcamp' 3 mornings a week which means she will get fitter and stronger and probably go even faster.  I can't afford bootcamp and the only personal trainer I have is called 'google' so I have to work harder and for longer.  I really don't know about sub-4 but I am determined now to run this thing and not lope it!!!!!.