Karen writes: Fartlek, F for failure!

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The plan today said ‘fartlek’ which was described thus... “for the duration of the session you will alternate between a run at 80% of your own personal 5km race pace for 1 minute and then jog for a 2 minute recovery”.  First consideration was this 5km race pace thing, as I have said before, I only have one speed normally.   Next, figuring out the 1 and 2 minute ratio.  In 45 minutes that’s a lot of watch checking but Grant had thought of that one, his suggestion was to use lamp posts, 3 posts for the fast pace, 4 posts for the slow.    Now that I am looking I have discovered that we don’t have reliably spaced lampposts around much of Maraetai, so I ended up counting footsteps.   I did really well in the first 20 minutes, faster…slower… faster… raincoat off…sort-of slower… faster….raincoat on… lots slower…raincoat off…. faster….faster… raincoat on…  slowslowslowslow…. comfy pace autopilot home.  I forgot what was fast and what was slow, I forgot to count, I ran too fast and got tired and couldn’t be bothered speeding up after the slow, then I got clicked into a good pace because I had finally warmed up and didn’t want to alter it because it felt nice.   Hmmm…I think I need to have another go at that one!    Anyway, heading north to Whangarei tomorrow, the plan says 'FRIDAY 50 minutes recovery run', but how can I ignore the opportunity to have a play on Mt Manaia up the road?  The best raincoat, my filthy shoes, Chafe-ease, and 2nd favorite pair of stay dry socks are packed given the current weather forecast.
Mt Manaia, Whangarei Heads

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