When I lived in Norway I was taught that fartlek was
totally intuitive or instinctive. There was no set schedule other than
starting off easier and picking up the pace with shorter quicker distances as
you went. The determining factors were how you felt at the time along with
the terrain and footing. The way I was coached you would determine the
success of a particular fartlek training session by how you felt at the
completion. You should feel invigorated and not exhausted. Obviously this is
not something you learn overnight and I believe some people never learn how
to take full advantage of what fartlek has to offer.
As a sidebar, I believe there is something lost in the English translation. In Norway and Sweden there was as much emphasis on "lek" or play, as there was on "fart", speed or motion. In Norwegian or Swedish, fart is a word used to describe motion, and it can be either slow, fast or any velocity in between. The word for "speed" in Norwegian is "hurtig" or "hurtighet". So to be correctly translated, from a running perspective, the English term should actually be "motion" or "velocity variation" play. Hope this helps you discover a very enjoyable and beneficial way to train. All the best. - Bartman |
Bart's Journal: Reminiscings of an avid runner, former speed skater, and a few tidbits I picked up along the way...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
What is the best Fartlek?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Efforts, Achievements, and Perspective
(email June
26, 2009)
Mark,
In the early 1990's a friend
of mine from Utah was involved in an expedition to Mt. Everest. John made
it as far as the "Hillary Step" and had to turn back because of the
deteriorating weather and fatigue. You might say he made it to the 23
mile mark of a marathon. As the month of May developed it turn out
that this was the only chance he was to be allowed before the team was required
to leave Base Camp. Because he "went for it", John's life was
changed for the better. He has since become a very successful
business man and motivational speaker.
I know how you feel about the marathon experience. It can be
devastating, if we allow it to be. I had a similar situation years ago
getting ready for the speed skating season and the Olympics trials.
Sometimes things happen completely beyond our control and all we can do is
make the best of it. But it is never wasted. The total
experience, the training, the mental prep, the constant self analysis, the
commitment and effort, all these things change us; and change us for the better.
Life has a slightly different trajectory after such a commitment than it did
before.
That aside, we are extremely proud of you that you "went
for it" and did not let the weather force you off track. Some
might say you should have altered your plans, but your goal was to PR, not
just run another marathon. As one friend of mine once said, "it
is not fail to try and fail, and try and fail again; we fail when we try and
fail, and fail to try again." Once you are fully recovered, I
have this strange gut feeling that you are going to be a total pain the ass to
beat this summer and through the fall. Be kind to yourself and make
sure it happens.
We are really sorry to hear about Julie. Please send her our
most heartfelt best wishes for her complete and speedy recovery.
Surgery can really take a lot out of a person, but fortunately in her
favor she was in very good condition going into this. Patience
is rarely a strong point for most runners, and this will take time to
bounce back from. She needs to listen to her body, and you can help
her with this, and not demand more of it than it is able to
handle. The last thing she needs is an injury on top of all
this. As a follow up quote to my article "The Art of
Running", Mark Wetmore once stated, "We try to learn to pay attention
to sensory data. There is no machine or device that is as accurate as
that, if you learn how to read it. It's hard to learn how to
read it; some people never learn." In the context of what he
was talking about at the time, some runners are living so far in the
future with regards to what they hope and dream to achieve, that they are
never in the 'now time' long enough to pay attention what their body is telling
them today. Again, I think you are well qualified to give some excellent
advice to her in expediting the process.
Stay in touch.
All the best,
Bart and Eve
Monday, June 22, 2009
Personal Entry: Becoming a Better Person
Personal
entry June 22, 2009
Whether it be the sport of running or living the precepts of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the goal of all my efforts are directed towards the same end. No matter the circumstances or abilities I might possess, or particular station in life that I may be at this moment or the next, the effort and struggle are the same; strive to be better, seek knowledge and truth, and carry on the effort until the very last breath of life leaves my body, I will seek to become a better person.
Reviews, Updates, and Scandals
email to Joe and Judy Pawlick June 22, 2009)
Hello Joe and Judy,
Busy weekend
it has been it has. Where do we
start? At the beginning I suppose.
No wait,
let’s start at the end:
We got your
package already this morning. The apron
is absolutely fantastic! I love it. I
know Eve will be thrilled this afternoon when she gets home. “Marathon Girl” “Eve”, that was good. The caramels are tasty, but don’t tell anyone
I already had one. The sand dollars are
beautiful. What wonderful, fascinating
creations of nature.
Poirot
Review:
It had us on
the edge of our seats the entire way. We
loved it. As usual Mr. Poirot “tormented
his mind by agitating his little gray cells unmercifully” and exposed the evil
Angel agent. You have to admit though
she, the evil Angel, exhibited great form with the javelin. It is too bad that OU didn’t have her on the
track team last week and maybe they would have won the national
championships. And let’s face it, until
she got the point across, the Pokemon gal was bad news on her own by tormenting
every person she came in contact with. I
can think of a few people I have worked with at one time or another, who you
could visualize on the business end of a spear, maybe in a different location,
but on the end of a spear all the same.
So the equation is balanced as far as I can see; “evil – evil = good”
and Hercule came through as always. Like
fine wine, even Poirot gets better with age.
Bug and
Critter Update:
Yesterday we
saw our first black bear at about 30 yards up yonder trail we were running on
along Bent Creek. He was about 3 foot
high across the shoulders and as fat as the piggy that went to market. He walked out on the trail right in front of
us, stopped, looked and took off down the other side of the trail. The best part was, Eve didn’t panic, didn’t
mess her shorts and remained perfectly calm.
I was proud of her. With warm
rain falling during most of our 13 mile run, the fog, the bear and the little
turtle we saw along the trail, the day in the forest was almost magical.
Racing
Update:
We ran the
Rhododendron 10K on Saturday. It was
pretty warm; in the 70’s even at 8:30 am.
But we had a good run on a beautiful course. Eve won 1st place Women’s Masters,
and the Bartman won 1st place in Men’s Grand masters. Nice plaques, no cash, great friendly folks
taking care of the officiating.
Deerwood
Scandals:
Nothing to
report.
Oh, one
thing maybe. The large juniper bush in
front of 101 Deerlake that was providing an excellent safety hazard to anyone
walking up Deerlake and meeting an oncoming vehicle driven by someone who can
barely see over the steering wheel while exceeding the posted speed limit by 15
mph, is now gone. We asked the landscapers
to trim it to back a couple of feet behind the curb and trim the height so a
pedestrian and driver could see over it.
They trimmed it alright! The area
looks much better. But still, since I
started the ball rolling leading to the demise of this ugly, out of control
bush, I feel like I might have painted a bulls-eye on my back. In the mean time the Grounds Committee
continues to approve the installation of ornamental do-dingies in common
grounds without consulting with the Board.
Last week this finally resulted in a special hearing of the Board to
resolve a complaint by a neighbor who did not behold the beauty of an illegal
installation, that was, of course, beholden by the installer and approver. Like the Board doesn’t have enough to do as
it is. I hope this will be the end of it
but after hearing the evidence provided at the hearing by the Chairman of the
Grounds Committee, I am not overly optimistic.
Evidently this has been going on for some time. I just don’t understand why it is so
difficult to live by the rules we all agreed on when we moved in here. Stay tuned.
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