OK – Who Fartlek'd?

Fartlek - here’s a word that for understandable reasons I don’t use around my kids.  But it can be a pretty useful word if you’re a runner and also running this race called life.  When it comes to running we have fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles.  I tend to have more of the slow variety.  To get my body to go faster I need these muscles to get used to going faster.  Make sense?

Now I could just try to get out there and run 3 to 4 miles at my desired speed, and realize about a quarter mile into it that this just isn’t working out.  But we do that all the time, don’t we?  We may decide we want to do more for God – to pick up our pace if you will.  So we jump all in.  We volunteer to teach that toddler Sunday school class, or read 30 minutes of the Bible a day, or spend 10 hours a week volunteering wherever.  And very quickly we realize that we weren’t ready for this, we can’t keep up at the new pace.  We want to improve, add a new ministry, develop a new skill, but just can’t keep up at the new pace.  So we give up. 

Time to fartlek!

The American Heritage defines fartlek as:  An athletic training technique, used especially in running, in which periods of intense effort alternate with periods of less strenuous effort in a continuous workout. An athletic training technique, used especially in running, in which periods of intense effort alternate with periods of less strenuous effort in a continuous workout.

When I fartlek, I’ll start off by running at my usual slow pace for about a mile.  Then for the next couple miles I increase my pace for short periods, maybe a few hundred feet, or 3-4 lamp posts or a couple fire hydrants, then slow back down for to my usual pace to recover for about the same distance and then repeat the cycle.  During those short bursts my body begins to get used to the new pace without getting overly burnt out.  If I keep it up and fartlek on a regular basis – I can spend more and more time at this new pace and maybe knock off a little bit of time on my next race.

So instead of jumping in and teaching that new class – volunteer to assist and teach maybe every 3^rd or 4^th lesson.  Want to read 30 minutes a day, start with 10.  Want to volunteer 10 hours a week, start with 1 or 2. When you realize you can do that, you’ll also realize you can do more.   Eventually you’ll get used to the new pace, and be able to sustain and increase it throughout your Christian race. 

And you can say – “Uhh…yes…It was I who fartlek'd”.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.    For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?  (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).

So let's pick up the pace a bit and ...

Run on!