What is a fartlek?

What is a fartlek?

Fartlek is literally, playing around with speeds – essentially, it’s a form of unstructured speedwork. It involves a continuous run in which periods of faster running are mixed with periods of easy- or moderate-paced running (not complete rest, as with interval training). You can use time as the measurement.

What are some fartlek exercises?

How to Do Fartlek Running Workouts

• 10 minutes of warm-up pace.
• 1-3 minutes of race pace.
• 1 minute of resting pace.
• Repeat this 4-8 times.
• 10 minutes of cool-down pace.

What is a fartlek test?

Fartlek, developed in the 1930s, comes from the Swedish for ‘Speed Play’ and combines continuous and interval training. Fartlek allows the athlete to run at varying intensity levels over their choice distances. This type of training stresses both the aerobic and anaerobic energy pathways.

What does fartlek do to your body?

It’s a great test for strength and endurance. It improves speed and race tactics. It improves the mind over matter game. It improves your ability to put on a spurt in races and overtake a competitor when tired, or knock seconds off your finish time.

Why is it called fartlek?

Fartlek is a form of fitness training and is derived from the word Fartlek which is a Swedish term for “speed play,” a mix of fast and slow, heavy and light training to give your workout a whole new, outlet that is particularly effective for improving running speed and endurance.

Can you walk in fartlek?

Fitness required – you don’t have to be a trained athlete to do Fartlek (though it would help), but basic fitness is needed. Don’t worry though, if you are a beginner you could just walk for the low-effort sections.

Is fartlek a HIIT?

A “Fartlek” (pronounced “färt-LEK”) is the Swedish word for speed play. This type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout is based on periods of running at a fast pace, followed by a slower pace, all while continuously moving.

How do you pronounce fartlek?

Pronunciation: fahrt-lik • Hear it!

How do you set up a fartlek?

Here’s how a typical fartlek session would work. After a steady warm-up, simply pick a landmark – for example a tree, lamp-post, or phone box – and run to it hard, then jog until you’ve recovered. Then pick another landmark, run hard to that, recover and so on. There doesn’t need to be a set structure to the run.

How long is a fartlek?

When running fartleks, your main focus should be on time instead of distance. If your goal race is 5K, the fartlek portion of the workout should be a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes. If you’re an experienced runner training for a half marathon or marathon, you can allow 60 to 75 minutes for the fartlek component.

Can you do fartlek everyday?

I recommend that you do at least one Fartlek run every two weeks, depending of course on your current fitness level and training goals. As I have already explained, fartlek workouts requires no real structure. If you want to give it a try, simply warm-up, and then start inserting some surge effort every few minutes.