Speed Play

One of my favorite training methods is called Fartlek. Fartlek is Swedish word that means “speed play”. This training method was created in 1937 by the Swedish coach, Gosta Holmer, in order to improve the results of his Swedish cross-country runners who were easily beaten for years by the Finish cross-country runners. Since then the Fartlek training method became widely popular throughout the world, first amongst coaches, runners, and athletes from many other sports. Because of its simplicity, Fartlek is also an excellent training method for amateur and recreational athletes.

Fartlek mixes two types of physical training: continuous and interval. The constant change of running intensity without any intervals of rest has a positive effect on both aerobic and anaerobic systems. While professional coaches and athletes have a very structured approach to Fartlek with strictly defined durations of anaerobic sprints and aerobic runs, recreational athletes can afford a luxury to approach Fartlek with lot more flexibility.

The duration of Fartlek is not strictly defined but most of the coaches and athletes that I know work in the 45 – 60 minute time frame. Here is one of the Fartlek variations described:

                

                Warm up:

-                                        Regular joint warm up exercises

-                                        Dynamic stretching

-                                        3 – 4 minute walk

-                                        6 – 7 minutes easy run

-                                        6 x 100 yards accelerations (so that you can prepare muscles, ligaments, and tendons for accelerations)

                Main:

Pick a landmark ahead of you (telephone pole, traffic sign, etc.) and run fast until you reach your landmark. After that, jog (or power walk) until you pick the next landmark and run fast again. You can create your intervals based on the terrain, weather conditions, or based on how fresh or tired you are on that particular day. You can choose longer or shorter speed intervals or longer or shorter jog/power walk intervals. You can run your speed intervals very hard or with only 60% of maximum intensity. Feel free to customize your workout.

                Cool down:

-                                        6 – 7 minutes easy run

-                                        3 – 4 minute walk

-                                        Static stretching

The cool down is as equally important part of the workout as the warm up is. The cool down will gradually bring down your heart rate and respiration to pre-workout levels. Also, cooling down will accelerate lactic acid removal.

If you haven’t tried Fartlek before, try it now. You will love it.