Ok, I'll come right out and say it. I developed a severe fartlek problem. Just to "clear the air", I'm not referring to any problem spurring from eating to many hard boiled eggs. A fartlek is simply a sweedish word that means speed play. Basically, it's when you mix any continuous training activity with interval training. If you have ever been out running and decided that you'd pick up the pace until you got to that next stop light or hit that next river crossing then you've been guilty of fartleking too, just like me.
My fartlek problem started last month when I decided to download and use Strava to record my runs during 2014. I've become addicted to the segment explorer. It's a feature of the app where you can look for popular segments around you and see how fast other people around you have ran them. Once you see a few you can go out and see how you stack up against everyone else. Needless to say this feature exploits a deeply competitive part of my personality. Every time I leave the house for an easy run I resolve that I will not race Joe Smith, even though he bested my time yesterday on the segment right down the street from my house. Every time I end up flying down the street back towards the house in a futile attempt to one up Joe. Hopefully, my new habit wont kill me but only make me faster. So, if you're thinking of downloading Strava, be warned that it could lead to a sever fartlek problem.
Run On,
Will W
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