The word might sound a bit funny, but Fartlek training is a useful part of any endurance runner’s progression plan. However, lots of runners would ask “What is Fartlek Training”? So in this article I’ll provide the Fartlek training definition and explain how you can use Fartlek in your running sessions to get fitter and faster, including examples of different Fartlek training sessions.
- Fartlek training definition
- Fartlek meaning
- How fast should I run in Fartlek training?
- What is the purpose of Fartlek Training?
- Different types of Fartlek training and examples
Fartlek training definition
Fartlek training is defined as “A continuous session of mixed efforts, varying between hard and easy” – the effort level changes might come from pace changes and / or terrain changes such as hills. Unlike traditional interval training, a runner would not normally stop to rest between the hard efforts in a Fartlek training session.
You’ll notice this is an easy definition, but it is a little open to interpretation. The good news is that all the questions you are imagining right now can probably be answered under the banner of Fartlek training.
Note that for newer runners, “easy” might mean walking and “hard” might mean running very slightly faster than normal. However, more experienced runners might do a bit of walking too during a more free-form session.
Read on to understand why this Fartlek training definition is relevant to your running training.
Fartlek meaning
The literal meaning of “Fartlek” translates from the original Swedish to English as “Speed Play“, and it’s the “play” aspect that should be kept in mind when planning your session.
How fast should I run in Fartlek training?
As with most types of running training sessions, the exact pace doesn’t really matter. The important aspect is the selection of effort levels, to ensure you are optimising adaptations to the energy systems, muscles / fascia and neurological paths that are relevant to the fartlek session.
So let’s rephrase the question:
What is the purpose of Fartlek Training?
The purpose of a fartlek training run is to stress the body above and below lactate threshold. This stimulates adaptations to the lactate energy system, whilst preparing the rest of the body for faster running. In a Tempo run, you are aiming to stay below lactate threshold to avoid acidosis, whereas in a Fartlek run, you are aiming to push into lactate build-up for a short while and then back out of it again, so that it has a chance to clear somewhat. This is then repeated.
The aim is to get the body used to running above lactate threshold and thus adapt to that, whilst only staying in it long enough such that recovery is easy over the next couple of days.
Therefore you may feel a bit of lactate buuurning sensation in the legs at various times during a Fartlek training session. It will take a while to get to this point in the session as the heart rate will, on average, rise gradually throughout.
However, there’s another goal to Fartlek training, and that’s to have fun! The change in effort and thus pace during a continuous run breaks it up and makes it interesting – sometimes the singular effort level in easy runs (the majority of our training) can get monotonous. You are more likely to run consistently if your running is fun, so injecting at bit of Fartlek-style fun makes you look forward to that session, even though it incorporates quite hard efforts.
Those concepts should guide you on how much effort to put in during the faster portions. It’s a once-per-week-maximum type training session. So now you understand the purpose of fartlek training in terms of lactate energy system, you can see how it matches up with the fartlek training definition of varying between hard and easy.
Different types of Fartlek training and Examples
Structured Fartlek Training – a common staple of run club sessions, the structured Fartlek involves running hard and then easy repeatedly for either set distances or set times. Running for set distances is easy to lay out and repeat, but means that slower athletes are having to run in the hard zone for longer, although they do also get longer easy sections too. Running for set times requires a stop-watch, either with alerts for the solo runner, or a whistle for a coach organising lots of runners of different abilities in a session, but it does mean that everyone gets the same workout regardless of how far they run in each repeat.
EXAMPLE FARTLEK SESSION 1: The Sports Pitch. After a warm up, run the length of a pitch hard and the width of a pitch easy. Repeat this for 40 minutes with a rest for a few minutes in the middle.
EXAMPLE FARTLEK SESSION 2: The Lamp Posts. After a warm up, run hard between lamp posts and then run easy between lamp posts. If they are close together, do two or three at once before changing effort. Turn around at each end of the road, so the pavement camber changes regularly. Continue for thirty minutes as part of a longer run.
EXAMPLE FARTLEK SESSION 3: The Sixties. After a warm up, run hard for 60 seconds, and then run easy for 60 seconds. Repeat for 20 minutes before resting and then doing again for ten minutes.
EXAMPLE FARTLEK SESSION 4: Kilometre repeats. After a warm up, run hard for a KM and then run easy for a KM, and repeat for 50-60 minutes. This can also be turned into a timed session, for example 6 minutes hard and then 6 minutes easy.
Free-form Fartlek Training – a more pure form of Fartlek, being more in tune with the original playful nature of Fartlek (“Speedplay”), the Free-form version requires the runner to vary effort levels based on how the body feels. In this type of fartlek training, the goal is to have fun pushing the boundaries, without overdoing it, whilst still staying within the definition of fartlek, so that the lactate energy system improves along with your fitness.
It’s hard to give examples of these, because by its nature, it is unstructured. They involve warming up and then just winging it as you go, between hard and easy running. It’s my favourite type of hard running session.
EXAMPLE FARTLEK SESSION 5: For 1 hour: Warm up 5 minutes, run hard for 2 minutes, run easy to the crest of the hill, run hard for a mile, walk for 30 seconds, run easy for 60 seconds, sprint for 200metres, run easy for 3 minutes, run hard / easy between the lamp posts on this street, run a moderate effort for 5 minutes, run hard for 5 minutes, run easy till heart rate feels better, run hard up this hill, etc, Warm Down.
What’s your favourite Fartlek training session?
Comment below if you have a Fartlek session you like or perhaps one we didn’t mention here.
