Fartlek Session

Friday Fartlek Run: Matt Centrowitz’s Workout

This session is great to improve the speed of runners. It is perfect for both runners and triathletes alike, especially athletes training for events shorter than 10km.

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 inspiration for this session comes from a video by Flotrack featuring Matt Centrowitz Jnr, the current Olympic 1,500m champion. His father and coach Matt Snr was also a five-time US 5,000m champion.

Matt Centrowitz’s Workout

  • 10min WU Level II;
  • 8x 300m Level V, 100m Level II RI;
  • 3-mile run Level III;
  • 600m/400m/300m/200m Level V;
  • 10min CD Level II;
  • 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 set is made up of three different sets.

The first set is eight 300m reps done at Level V (Matt does these between 45 and 48 seconds!!!), with a 100m jog at Level II for your Rest Interval (RI).

The second set is a 3-mile run at Level III, Matt Snr describes this as “Don’t run, don’t jog”, implying it’s somewhere in between in intensity. Take a wee break after this 3 miler before the next (final) set.

The final set is made up of running four reps, one each of 600m, 400m, 300m, and 200m. Run these as fast as you can, and recover for as long as you need to ensure you can run the next rep as fast as you can.

The Cool Down (CD) is at a 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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Download the Garmin (.FIT) files for this workout for FREE

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If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published 12 months ago.

Friday Fartlek Run – Half Marathon Tempo Progression D

To improve your 5km Time by over 2:30 in ONLY 5 Weeks get my most popular run programme here. Results Guaranteed. Use discount code CR30 to get a 30% discount.

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