Fartlek Fun: Speed Play Endurance Run

Warm-up

Start with a gentle jog to gradually increase your heart rate and warm up your muscles. Follow this with dynamic stretches to improve range of motion and prepare your body for the varied intensities of the fartlek session.

• Light Jog: Focus on light strides and controlled breathing. Gradually increase your pace to a comfortable, easy effort.
• Dynamic Stretches: Perform leg swings, hip circles, arm circles, and walking lunges. These should be fluid movements, not static holds.

Workout

This fartlek session involves alternating periods of faster running with recovery periods. The beauty of fartlek is its flexibility; you can vary the duration and intensity of your 'on' and 'off' segments based on how you feel. For this advanced session, we'll use slightly longer and more intense efforts.

• Hard Effort: Run at a challenging pace, around 80-85% of your maximum effort. You should be able to speak only a few words.
• Recovery Jog: Maintain a very easy, conversational pace to allow your heart rate to come down. This is an active recovery, not a stop.
• Medium Effort: Run at a comfortably hard pace, around 70-75% of your maximum. You should be able to speak in short sentences.

Cool-down

Gradually bring your heart rate down with a slow jog, followed by static stretching to improve flexibility and aid in recovery.

• Slow Jog: Decrease your pace to a very easy, gentle jog. Focus on relaxed breathing.
• Static Stretches: Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds. Focus on hamstrings, quads, calves, and hip flexors. Do not bounce.

Coaching notes

Fartlek, or "speed play" in Swedish, is an unstructured form of interval training that helps build both speed and endurance. Listen to your body throughout the session; the 'hard' efforts should be genuinely challenging, but the 'recovery' periods are essential for you to be able to repeat those efforts. Don't be afraid to adjust the duration of your efforts based on terrain or how you're feeling on the day. The goal is to vary your pace and challenge your aerobic system without rigidly sticking to specific distances or times for each interval.

Scale it

• Easier: Reduce the duration of the 'hard' and 'medium' efforts, or increase the duration of the 'recovery' jogs. You can also decrease the intensity of the 'hard' efforts. Focus on feeling comfortable with the changes in pace before pushing harder.
• Harder: Increase the duration of the 'hard' and 'medium' efforts, or shorten the 'recovery' jogs. You can also increase the intensity of the 'hard' efforts to closer to 90% of your maximum. Incorporate hills into your 'hard' segments if running outdoors.