This session is a great session for those that are trying to be competitive in 5km, 10km, or cross country racing. The higher intensity efforts teach the body how to handle the pace when other athletes surge during a race.
Each week I will be posting the Friday Fartlek Run Sessions that you can do to enhance your running. Fartlek is a Swedish term that runners often use and it means speed-play. See a previous post about training intensity (levels) to know how hard to work.
This session is a great session for those that are trying to be competitive in 5km, 10km, or cross country racing. The higher intensity efforts teach the body how to handle the pace when other athletes surge during a race.
Hard & Harder
- 10min Warm Up Level II;
- 8x 4 min Level IV, 1 min Level V;
- 10min Cool Down Level I-II;
- 10min Stretching
The warm-up should be done at an intensity that is steady but not overconsuming at Level II. Run for a minimum of 10 minutes. This session can be done anywhere: on the track, on the road, on the trail, up a hill, down a hill.
The main set involves eight repetitions of 4 minutes at hard intensity. Then increase the effort for a minute to very high intensity. This is in effect a solid run with some higher intensity efforts inserted regularly into it, as there is no rest period until the cool down.
The pace of the 4 minutes Level IV is equivalent to 10km Pace (or PZ6 for those using the PZI system) and the Level V pace is equivalent to 3km or 5km pace (or PZ8 for those using the PZI system).
The cooldown is at a low intensity, jogging for a minimum of 10 minutes.
Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.
I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.
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If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published 6 months ago.
Friday Fartlek Run: Sausage Intervals
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