it can be easy to fall into a rut with
your running and sometimes just needs a
little spicing up fartlek training is a
great way to do this now I'm gonna be
explaining what fight like is and more
importantly how you can incorporate it
into your training to help you improve
your running stay off your run training
at warm pace will result in a
performance plateau and it is easy to
think that if you've got a set distance
you're targeting if you continue to
practice running that distance as hard
as you can you will get better well
doing time trials regularly will help
but only if they're interspersed with
other training you'll be pleased to hear
that easy running is just as important
as the harder faster as well as those
paces in between variety is the key here
and this is where fart that comes in
you've probably heard of speed work or
interval sessions that's pretty much
what fartlek is is the Swedish word
meaning speed play so that translate
says a freestyle type of interval
session it's where within your run you
change the pace that's dictated by the
natural environment as opposed to
running to your watch and this is a
great refresher for the body and for the
mind you still get that same
physiological benefit but you're not
going to be a slave to the numbers the
beauty of this type of session the fact
you don't need a strict or specific plan
having said that though I've got a
couple of suggestions just to help you
get started so a good starting point
will be a 14 minute run and then break
that down as a 10-minute warmup 20
minutes of fartlek running followed by a
10 minute warm done and for those 20
minutes I want you to choose an upper
pace for the fast pace to be around your
5k effort so you can be running 5 feel
and then your easy pace around your
marathon pace so a sustainable effort
faster than warm up in your warm down
but still you're recovering from that 5k
pace and then I want you to run at your
5k pace to a landmark say a building or
something that you can see ahead and a
distance away that you know you can
sustain that pace for and then go back
to your marathon pace and then when you
see your next landmark pick it back up
and run a 5k pace until that and
continue to do this for your 20 minutes
and then finish off with a nice easy 10
minute warm down depending on what
terrain you're running on you're going
to find certain landmarks along your way
doesn't really
and what they are could be lamppost
trees significant buildings or even road
signs anything that catches your eye and
that gives you that natural reason to
change your pace and if you're someone
that likes to run with music and you can
use this on a treadmill as well you can
use the chorus of the song to run at an
intense level and then to your recovery
on the verses but you might just want to
choose your playlist wisely for this
just as the distances are flexible so
are the intensities so for this example
I'm just going to keep it to a thirty
minute run consisting of a ten minute
warm-up 15 minutes of fartlek and then a
five minute warm down and these were
going to make much shorter but as a
result much faster so for the short
pieces I want you to run as fast as you
can and then the easy bits are going to
be a really easy drug recovery because
you're going to need that for the
variation you could use at lampposts and
say they're set at a set distance for
this you might even want to do a
distance of one hard and then actually
double your recovery in do it as two so
you can really concentrate on your speed
and this is a great type of fartlek for
really increasing that top-end speed in
your running the key to a successful
fartlek session is really having a
distinct difference between your easy
running and the efforts and this will
really help to build up your endurance
and it just mixes up the intensities of
your training some athletes don't like
this type of freedom and actually prefer
the structure that you get from a coach
or a training plan however to do this
you need to not worry about your average
overall pace in fact actually running
without a watch or without looking at it
can even help when it comes to far leg
as this type of training is so fluid and
unstructured
it's a good idea to use it in your
pre-season when you're still building
that base up although having said that I
do actually sometimes mix this in when
I'm building up to a race especially if
I've got a little bit bogged down my
numbers and I'm worried that I'm not
running quite as well as I should be
it's sometimes nice just to go out for a
run not worry about the watch just pick
the pace up naturally when it feels good
and this can do a lot for your race
confidence especially when you're on a
taper week with fartlek being all about
speed and play well you can't really go
wrong by adding it into your training so
if you haven't tried it before why not
go and give it a go
and then let us know how you get on in
the comments section below if you've
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