Musings of an Experiential Runner

Would be tempted to say that it's never too late to run...rather start running, but in this post I want to highlight that it's never too late to learn. Most of my running life, my philosophy has been to enjoy the run and to go with the flow....nothing structured. However of late (thanks to the influence of my running mate, Dr. Gaurav Sethi) I have started looking at the technicalities of running. Mark my words: ‘looking’...not necessarily ‘following’!!😅 One term that intrigued me was 'fartlek'. It’s meaning was not readily apparent. No wonder as it's a Swedish term meaning speed play. Reading more about it I realised that it is something that quite fits into my philosophy of running, being nothing very strict or set in stone. So Fartlek was my next destination. Quite simply put....it is what it means, an almost playful way of approaching your run. No fixed pace, no fixed targets. Mix it up. On the go, you improvise...picking a looming landmark at random and racing

For the veterans and the addicts, running is intuitive and the question by a newcomer as to how to start running seems rather superfluous😏.  When my daughter threw me the same question, I had to think for a bit before giving her a useful answer.  For a new initiate, I feel there are 3 stages to be up and running. Stage 1.       Focus on time: All you need to do is spend time on your feet. Start with brisk walking, then start doing a walk-jog, walk-jog sequence and then graduate to a slow but continuous jog. The sole aim being to build up the minutes. So you only need a watch to track your progress. Be mindful, focusing on your posture, being aware of your feet hitting the ground, your stride propelling you forward. Starting from a 20 minutes outing and gradually going up to a 40 minute non-stop jog would be a reasonable goal.  Stage  2.       Focus on distance: Once you have gotten comfortable with jogging and attained some sort of a rhythm, start putting more effort into your jogs. S