Understanding Fartlek workouts

RoyalMoose11

I'm having some trouble following a plan in relation to Fartlek. Sometimes the instructions for tempo or Fartlek runs trip me up. The plan recommends the following:

3-5 miles Fartlek, with 6-8 x 30 second + 1-2 minute recover. (from Women's Running, March 2013).

Their definition of Fartlek also states (after introducing the definition) that the runner should

"start with a 1-2 mile warm up before diving into your first interval. After each harder effort, jog/walk the minutes indicated for recovery. Finish the workout with another easy 1-2 miles to cool down and get in the total miles listed"

Does this mean I should run between 3-5 miles and then I would finish with 6-8 Fartlek for 30 seconds with the recovery period?

Thanks!

AllanMisner

A Fartlek is an interval training method designed to help you increase your speed.

So, you’ll run 1 - 2 miles at your regular training pace,

then you go at a faster pace (usually a target race pace, which is 10 - 20% faster than your training pace) for 30 seconds, slow to a jog for a minute or two to recover,

then run 5 - 7 additional intervals just like the one above.

You’ll close out your training with a 1 - 2 mile run.

Does that make more sense?

paintedbison

Fartlek just means playing with speed. So, all kinds of different speed workouts can be "fartlek". So, my understanding of the above would be warm up 1 mile, run 30 seconds fast, run 2 minutes slowly, repeat that 6-8 times. Then, cool down for a mile. If you want to make it a 5 mile run, do a 2 mile warm up, the 30 seconds fast and 2 minutes slow 8 times. Then do a 2 mile cool down. That should put you close to 5 miles or a bit over.

You can also just do a fast finish or a bit of fast running in the middle of your run without keeping careful track of timing.

_Terrapin_

http://healthandrunning.com/running/run-faster-formula

Goes through tempos, intervals, Fartleks, and Yasso's. Good luck.

RoyalMoose11

This is all very helpful. Thanks for the feedback. This is the first time I'm training for improved time rather than training for volume.