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Seattle Marathon |
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Chuckit will be
providing the training for the Asics - Seattle Marathon Training
Program. For more information click the logo below.
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Hey did you Fartlek?
Fartlek is a Swedish term that means 'speed play' or playing
with speed. I use the term varied pace to describe this form of
running, because that is what you really are doing when you run
a fartlek workout. What I like about a fartlek workout is that
you run based on how you feel, so if you are tired on that
specific day you can run a little easier and there is not clock
timing you as you run for a specific distance.
After warming up, run at an easy training pace, throwing in
bursts of speed for various distances throughout the run. Vary
the speed and times of the speed sections, from as short as 15
seconds to as long as two or three minutes. Between these
bursts, allow yourself enough recovery time to match roughly 2/3
of the effort time. The recovery pace, though, should be faster
than the recovery jog you might do during intervals on the
track; keep it moving at an easy training pace.
It's a good idea to pick out a landmark, a tree or a mailbox or
telephone pole where a speed section will end before you start
picking up the pace. In other words, you have to know how far
you are running for each section. Because the idea is to keep up
a constant pace until you reach that landmark, it is important
to pace yourself at the beginning. Don't start off so fast that
you cannot keep up the pace through the end of each speed
section.
An excellent place to run a fartlek workout is on trails. Along
with running at a varied pace you are also running on varied
terrain which I think is easier on the mind and the body. These
workouts also can be as hard as you want. So there is nothing
like going out on the trails and burning them up Places I've
always liked doing a Fartlek workout are Discovery Park in
Seattle Bridle Trails in Bellevue and Lake Young’s Reservoir in
Kent. These are places with a few miles of soft surfaces with
varying terrain. A twenty to thirty-minute fartlek session
should be adequate for most runners but for more advanced runner
30-45 minutes would be fine. Remember to include a warm up and a
warm down in this run.
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