Fartlek Run

Friday Fartlek Run: Ross Creek Intervals

Tri Training NZ
Photo: Chris Sullivan/Seen in Dunedin

In this session, I did a number of times when I was living in Dunedin and running the fastest I have ever run (sub 34 minutes for 10km). I used to do this session running in one of my favourite locations around the Ross Creek Reservoir. Although the layout of the location worked well for me you can replicate the session anywhere (Ross Creek just had some hills right when you don’t want them).

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.

Ross Creek Intervals

  • 10min Warm Up Level II;
  • 3,000m Level IV, recovery jog back to the start point (~5 minutes);
  • 3x 1,000m Level V, recovery jog back to the start point (~5 minutes);
  • 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. This would take me from the flat to the start of the trail.

Tri Training NZ

For the main set run all the hard efforts reasonably solidly.

The 3,000m first up is a good wee challenge.   The Ross Creek Reservoir has a steep but short climb to get up to the reservoir just prior to the 1km mark.  The route then turns right sharply making an anti-clockwise circuit of the reservoir returning to the summit of the hill.  For recovery, jog back to the start point.  It would take me to take approximately 5 minutes to get back to the start of the trail.

Next are three 1,000m reps.  I would start at the beginning of the trail.  The 1,000m would take me up the sharp climb, turning right and continuing on for a short distance around the reservoir.  I would then return back to the start point at a recovery jog pace before repeating two more times.

The effort of the 1,000m reps was a lot higher than the 3,000m effort to start with.

The Cool Down (CD) is at a low intensity, and returning home to complete the run.

Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.  This isn’t necessarily included in the 60-minute workout and can be conducted whilst showering post-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. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.

Share this post so your friends can benefit as well.

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

Price: $ 0.00

If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published previously.

Friday Fartlek Run: 5x 1,200m VO2 Max

For more great workouts see my eBook: ‘Top 10 Workouts from Coach Ray – The Ten Most Popular Training Sessions from www.CoachRay.nz”.  Use the workouts within the eBook to enhance you.

One Reply to “Friday Fartlek Run: Ross Creek Intervals”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.