Friday Fartlek Run – Peter Elliott’s Killer Session #2

Peter Elliott liked to run this session in the week before a major event. He would use it as a sharpening session. Peter had a 1,500m PB of 3:32.69, 1 mile of 3:49.20 and 800m of 1:42.97. He won silver in the 1,500m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and gold at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games in the 1,500m. This session is great for runners up to 5km, as well as triathletes.

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 is often used by runners and it means speed-play. See a previous post about training intensity (levels) to know how hard to work.

This workout has come from an article in Athletics Weekly about sessions Peter Elliott conducted back in the 80s. You can read the article here.

Peter Elliott’s Killer Session #2

• 10min WU Level II;
• 200m Level V, 3min Level I RI;
• 400m Level V, 3min Level I RI;
• 600m Level V, 3min Level I RI;
• 400m Level V, 3min Level I RI;
• 200m Level V, 3min Level I RI;
• 10min CD Level I-II;
• 10min Stretching

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) for a minimum of ten minutes of easy jogging at Level II.

The main set is made up of five reps conducted in a pyramid fashion all at Level V with three minutes of recovery between reps.

Start with 200m. Walk around during the recovery, keep the legs moving and the blood flowing.

Next up is a 400m rep, followed by a 600m rep to peak the pyramid.

The second to last rep is 400m before finishing with a 200m rep before your Cool Down (CD).

The Cool Down (CD) is at a low intensity, jogging (Level I-II) for a minimum of ten minutes.

Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.

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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Download the Garmin (.FIT) and Zwift (.ZWO) files for this workout for FREE

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