This session is a great way to enhance your technique as well as speed and efficiency. All runners can benefit from this session including ultrarunners and triathletes as it’s a perfect recovery run.
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.
Stride Outs
- 10min Warm Up Level II;
- 12x 100m stride outs on 60sec;
- 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 for 10 minutes. This session can be done either on the road, trail, or track.
The main set involves striding out for 100m, then walking until it’s time to start the next rep. You do this on the minute, every minute until you have done twelve repetitions. A stride out is a relaxed, fast, graceful run (not sprint) for 100m. It’s important that the stride-outs are smooth and relaxed. Imagine yourself running with the likes of John Walker, Anne Audain, or Peter Snell in their prime.
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.
I recommend that you do this session in a grass park that is nearby. Use the warm-up to run there. Roughly pace out your 100m (it doesn’t need to be exact) by either using a hat or a jacket to mark out the start and finish points or maybe using some natural features like a prominent tree or a park bench.
Here is a Strava link to when I did 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.
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If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published previously.
Friday Fartlek Run – 20min Threshold
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