Fartlek – besides being a fun word to say – is Swedish for “speed play”. Fartlek workouts are typically unstructured workouts with periods of faster running and slower running.
You can read all about the basics of fartlek runs and their benefits here. Basically after a slow jog to warm up, you spend 15-30 minutes speeding up and slowing down at your heart’s desire. It let’s you practice the different speeds and gears available to you.
But what if you find the freedom of fartlek runs disconcerting? Do you wish someone would just tell you what to do? Here are some structured fartlek runs to ease your indecisive mind, bring structure to your workout, and inject a little variety into your run.
9 Structured Fartlek Workouts
Begin all fartlek workouts with at least a 10 minute warm up. This is a great time to do some dynamic stretching or some running drills.
Time Based
1. One Minute Fast/One Minute Slow: Every 60 seconds alternate between fast and slow running. Start with 15 minutes and work your way to 30 minutes in later fartlek workouts. After you feel comfortable with this workout, switch to 2 minutes of fast running and one minute of slow running. This will teach your body to recover while you are on the move.
2. Pyramid:
>1 min fast, 1 min slow
>>2 min fast, 2 min slow
>>>3 min fast, 3 min slow
>>>>4 min fast, 4 min slow
>>>3 min fast, 3 min slow
>>2 min fast, 2 min slow
>1 min fast, cool down
3. Shorter (and Harder) Pyramid: Faster running of 3 min, 5 min, 7 min, 5 min, 3 min with 1 min jog in between
Distance Based
4. Mailboxes: While running in a neighborhood, use mailboxes as your speed up/slow down points. You can do this in ladder formation, starting with alternating speed between every mailbox, then every other mailbox, every 3rd mailbox, etc.
5. Neighborhood Blocks: Run one block fast, use the next block to recover. Also leave a handful of blocks for running drills after.
6. Park Dimensions: If your park is rectangular, you could run fast for the lengths and jog for the widths. If you’re running on a track, you could jog the curves and do the straightaways fast.
Effort Based
7. Stoplight: Run hard (red), moderate (yellow), and easy (green). By running in two different speed gears, you’ll be training across all your different energy systems.
8. Hills: Run your fartlek session on a hilly route. Great strength building and practice for hilly races
9. Heart Rate: If you use a heart rate monitor, run by zones doing a stoplight approach like above.
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However You Fartlek
Fartlek workouts are a great way to start doing some faster running in your workouts without jumping into advanced speedwork. It is great when you’re coming off the off-season. Your body learns different gears without too much strain.
Try adding fartleks into your base mileage to make your speed intentional and to make you smile every time you get to say the word ‘fartlek’.
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