Marathon Training - Farlek Run

I showed up in a crowded Running Room with over 30 people milling around. There were the parents with their young kids for their first family run, beginners who would like to run but would likely walk towards the end, and veteran runners with belts decorated with gel packs like ammunition around their waists.

When it was time to head out, I found I was the only one in the marathon group. The instructor was a twenty something young man who was in top shape. I preempted by making statements that began with "I used to ...." and sprinkled it with " ... but not anymore (grin!)" It worked !! Well, actually he was a nice guy and would have let me run at my own pace anyway.

So the two of us ran all the way out to the Ottawa River parkway, did a 10 K loop around the bicycle path and I finished my one-on-one farlek/interval training in fairly good time - at least that was what I thought.

Back at the Running Room, I caught my breath, gave my "personal trainer" a high-five and thanked him for the run. Upon giving me a smile, he took off like a gazelle. To him, my "hard" farlek training was just a warm-up run for him.