Pace problems³⁶

Pahar has given me a schedule for seventy miles a week. Up to Saturday, it is possible for me to follow the schedule. With greatest difficulty I do it. But when Sunday comes, I am totally lost. How can I do twenty more miles in one day? I am not able to fulfil Pahar’s desire. I stop at seven or ten miles, so it doesn’t add up to seventy miles.

I feel that if I run very slowly, I will be able to run a higher mileage during the week. Sometimes before I start out, I am determined to run at a twelve-minute pace. Since it is an Indian bullock-cart pace, I think I will be able to run farther. But what happens is that I start at about a 10:15 pace. Then it becomes 9:50 and then 8:15. Each mile that I do in a good time gives me such joy. But by the time I reach five miles, I am finished.

The problem is that when I run at a ten-minute pace, it is boring. An eleven or twelve-minute pace is out of the question. It is not even running! But a nine-minute pace becomes too difficult. So I can’t figure out what to do. One moment it is too slow, but if I speed up, the next moment I am completely exhausted.