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.
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 12 months ago.
Friday Fartlek Run: Mixed Intervals 200m/400m/800m/1000m/800m/400m
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