This is a great session that will develop speed, lifting your pace at VO2 Max. Speed work is an important training session for all runners, as well as triathletes, to make you faster.
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 named after Per-Olof Åstrand a Swedish Physiologist who is credited with a number of discoveries in relation to exercise physiology.
Åstrand Fartlek
- 10min Level II WU;
- 3x
- 1:15min Level V;
- 2:30min Level II RI;
- 60sec Level V;
- 2:00min Level II RI;
- 10min Level II CD;
- 10min Stretching
The Warm Up (WU) should be done at an intensity that is steady but not overconsuming at Level II for ten minutes.
The main body of the workout is made of three reps. Each rep is made up of two hard portions and two Rest Intervals. The first effort is at Level V for one minute and 15 seconds, before you complete a two-minute and 30-second Rest Interval (RI) at Level II. The second part is 60 seconds hard at Level V before a two-minute Rest Interval (RI) at Level II. Once you’ve done that you repeat it three times.
The Cool Down (CD) is at low-intensity jogging (Level II) for a minimum of ten minutes.
Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.
Here is my data having run this workout:
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.
Share this post so your friends can benefit as well.
Download the Garmin (.FIT) files for this workout for FREE
Click here to do this workout with the Qwik Kiwi Squad as a video lead workout lead by Coach Ray: https://app.vqvelocity.com/vod/7704?s=eapbh1
14 day Free trial
No credit card required
Get my Faster 5km 6 Week Challenge with 25% off
6 weeks of training is all you need to do to smash your current 5km time significantly. On the average following, in this programme runners improve by 2 minutes and 51 seconds (7.5%) in the first month.
Some people have improved by more than 5 minutes following this programme!!!
Designed for Runners of ALL abilities who are wanting to run a 5km qwiker, the primary goal of this training plan is to make you FASTER. Chose the programme based on your ability. This programme is for runners that are comfortable running for greater than 60 minutes and want two run sessions per week.
Lasting 6 weeks long this programme can start anytime. Each week includes 3 runs and a stretching session. Although not essential, I recommend using a heart rate monitor in conjunction with a GPS watch (such as a Garmin).
When purchasing, use the discount code “web25” to claim your 25% discount.
Prior to using this plan, you should be able to run for greater than 60 minutes.
Purchase of this plan gives you access to my fortnightly coaching calls where you can ask me any training or racing-related questions.
When purchasing, use the discount code “web25” to claim your 25% discount.