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.
Gerschler Fartlek
- 10min Level II WU;
- 3x
- 30sec Level V; 90sec Level II RI;
- 30sec Level V; 75sec Level II RI;
- 30sec Level V; 60sec Level II RI;
- 30sec Level V; 45sec Level II RI;
- 30sec Level V; 30sec Level II RI;
- 30sec Level V; 15sec 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 sets of six reps of 30 seconds running at Level V. Each rep is followed up with a Rest Interval (RI) of jogging at Level II for a different amount of time. You start with 90 seconds of rest and each Rest Interval (RI) is 15 seconds less than the previous one (i.e. 90-75-60-45-30-15). After you’ve had the 15 seconds Rest Interval (RI) after the sixth rep, you are back to the top with 90 seconds of rest for the second set. Repeat one more time to complete the three sets.
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.
This is one of my favourite intervals sessions. This data is from when I ran this workout in 2020 during the COVID lockdown.
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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Prior to using this plan, you should be able to run for greater than 60 minutes.
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When purchasing use the discount code “web25” to claim your 25% discount.