Drawing it forward, pushing it back

Day:         67

Distance: 11km

Time:       59:21 secs

Calories:  843

The training plan is less specific than usual, my sole instruction: "60 mins fartlek". Not 2 mins easy 8 mins fast or anything like that, just 60 minutes of fartlek running. 

With this new found creative freedom I take the opportunity to create a new, less structured, fartlek playlist. It contains many of the usual suspects, but also gives me the chance to throw some different stuff into the mix. The first change in tempo comes around 5 mins into the run when Adele's heartbreakingly beautiful "Someone like you" segues into the Datsuns' pedal to the metal riffing monster "MF from hell". Such a juxtaposition has no right working, but it's fantastic for a run like this and I soon find myself tearing up the streets bellowing out the expletive strewn chorus. It's a good thing that no-one's around at this early hour of the day.

The whole point of fartlek (or, "speed play") is to alternate paces with periods of slow running augmented by bursts of speed. The playlist sees me swinging from slow acoustic numbers like "Don't leave" by Faithless and "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix into punky tunes like "I wish I was someone better" by Blood Red Shoes, "A whole Child Ago" by Biffy Clyro and "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. Good Lord, why have I never thought to add that last one to the actual running playlist? Not only is it a fantastic song, the 70s cop show spoof which accompanied the single release back in 1994 is one of the finest music videos ever made. Fact.

It's fair to say that this new playlist made for a most enjoyable run. While it probably wasn't as knackering as the more structured sessions I've been doing recently it still took it out of me and by the time the last slow song was rolling by I was about ready to stagger home. Until, that is, said slow song gave way for Funeral Party's fittingly titled "Finale". When the driving, insistent riff kicks in after 30 seconds my legs, energy levels and speed all pick up and the 60 minute run ends triumphantly.

But what of the actual run, I hear you say. Well, interestingly the Run Keeper stats for each of the 11 kilometres would suggest to a casual observer that this wasn't a fartlek run at all as they're remarkably constant (averaging 5:24 mins/km). Of course, these times mask the actual highs and lows so it's interesting to see that my slowest minute was jogged at 7:10 mins/km, while the fastest minute saw me propelled along, like a MF from hell, at just 3:49 mins/km. 

Are you going backwards, or are you going forwards?

Day:         53

Distance: 8.31km

Time:       40:29 secs

Calories:  639

It's an early start (out the door at 6:20am) and the training plan has dictated a fartlek run consisting of "40 mins 2 mins easy 8 mins fast x 4". Given previous posts you could be forgiven for thinking that I'd be dreading this run and normally you'd be right, but last night I finally put together a fartlek playlist and I was looking forward to trying it out.

Compiling a playlist for a fartlek session is quite difficult as the majority of songs lasting for around 2 minutes in my itunes library are 200mph punk numbers. I have a pretty limited number of slow 2 minute long songs to choose from. The second problem is, essentially, the reverse of the first. There aren't a whole lot of fast songs which last for 8 minutes, so I'm left trying to beat match a number of fast songs so as to create a vaguely consistent tempo.

The first 10 minutes began with British Sea Power's slow-building opener "All in it", which lasts for 2:13 secs. This set me up perfectly for the 'slow' tempo start to the run before the Vaccines, Idlewild, The Ramones and The Rakes crashed the party and got me running at a 'fast' tempo for 8 minutes. Run Keeper underlines the effectiveness of this mix as I was running at 6:25 mins/km in the first minute, but when "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" by the Vaccines kicked in in the third minute I was propelled forward at 3:52 mins/km - a pretty impressive change in tempo. While the tempo wasn't constant for the entirety of this 'fast' section most of those eight minutes saw me record an average speed around or below 4:30 mins/km.

The second 10 minutes began with Mark Kozelek's cover of AC/DC's "Love at first feel". This acoustic beauty gave me 2:12 secs of respite before Blur's "We've got a file on you" informed me that it was time to pick up my pace. This was followed by "Oh Yeah" (The Subways), "22 Grand Job" (The Rakes) and "I wanna be sedated" (The Ramones). Again, the effectiveness of the music mix is clear to see as for the two minutes of 'slow' running I was averaging 6 mins/km. For the 8 minutes of 'fast' running that followed this I was able to maintain a pretty fast pace, although I can see that I definitely slowed down for the last couple of minutes (the last minute of this section took 5:41 mins/km).

Relief was on hand at the start of the third section as Michael Cera and Ellen Page (the stars of "Juno") serenaded me with a cover of the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone else but you". The 'fast' section was run to the sound of the View ("Wasted Little DJs") and Arcade Fire ("Month of May"). By this time it really felt as though I was running through treacle and the difference between the slow and fast tempos seemed, if not exactly non-existent, certainly less pronounced. So, I'm pleased to look at the stats on Run Keeper and see that there was still a clear difference between the two paces.

The final quarter began with Bill Withers singing "Ain't no sunshine". It's a good song to slow the pace down, but I hadn't realised how bloody repetitive it is. In one chorus (?) alone he repeats "I know" 26 times. Twenty six. I thought my ipod was skipping.

It was with some relief that the Libertines' "I get along" kicked off the final 'fast' section of the run. This was followed by "Readers and Writers" by Idlewild - which I've already mentioned on this blog as being a song that really helps to fire me up. This was trumped by the final song on the playlist, "White Riot" by the Clash - one of my all time favourite songs. As soon as that urgent two chord riff started up I felt completely re-energised and this is demonstrated by Run Keeper which shows that those last two minutes were conquered in 4:11 and 4:51 mins/km respectively.

So there we have it. Proof that a fartlek playlist can be done and can be very effective. I've got some more of these runs coming up in the next few weeks and now I've got this playlist sorted I may even look forward to them, more so when I've found a replacement for "Ain't no sunshine".