The Swedish term fartlek, translates as ‘speed play’ and is a great workout which can challenge a range of energy systems as you vary your speeds and duration on faster & slower intervals. Typically these will be between 10s to 3mins of faster running with varied speeds & recovery… so yes almost anything goes. Of course some Fartlek are better then others. Many people enjoy the freedom or choosing their own pace & intervals so you can assess how the body feels & run accordingly. It’s a nice break from strictly timed interval or reps. Hilly terrain can also provide increased intensity but for thse who want some simple Fartlek formats to follow here are a few of my favourites.
Moneghetti Fartlek
2x 90s fast, 4x 45s fast, 4x 30s fast, 4x 15s fast all with 1min easy running between.
Made famous by legendary Aussie Marathoner Steve Moneghetti I’ve seen a few variations of this descending pattern (with varying recovery times) but follow the 90s, 45s, 30s & 15s fast efforts)
Jack Daniels Fartlek
20, 30, 40, 50…etc up to 100
Jack describes a fartlek set which increases with longer run & recovery efforts based on counting your strides, so leave your watch at home & get stuck into this. After a 10-15min warm up run 20 strides (counting 1 leg), not steps where you’d count both legs. Anyway run faster for 20 strides, recover with an easy run for 20 strides, faster for 30 strides, recover for 30 & so on. Continue up to 100 strides. At this point you can choose to do your cool down run or to increase the volume go back down 100, 90, 80, etc.
Fast Fartlek (2:1)
2mins fast, 1min easy, 2mins fast, 1min easy,
3mins fast, 90sec easy, 3mins fast, 90sec easy,
2mins fast, 1min easy, 2mins fast, 1min easy,
OUTFIT ‘Up & down’ Fartlek
2mins fast, 2mins easy, 30s fast, 2mins easy
90s fast, 2min easy, 30s fast, 2mins easy
60s fast, 2min easy, 30s fast, 2mins easy
45s fast, 2min easy, 30s fast, 2mins easy
60s fast, 2min easy, 30s fast, 2mins easy
90s fast, 2min easy, 30s fast, 2mins easy
2mins fast, 2mins easy.
The shorter the interval the faster you should run.
Create your own Fartlek
1) Complete a warm up so you’re ready for the demanding workout.
2) Find a formula that works for you (& is easy to remember under fatigue).
3) Vary your pace with a range of faster efforts or speeds over different lengths of time.
Email us with your favourite fartlek combo. I’d love to know what works best for you!
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