Fartlek Workout

Friday Fartlek Run: Lance Watson’s Double Speedplay

This session is great to improve the speed of runners. It is perfect for both runners and triathletes alike.

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.

The inspiration for this session comes from an article on Training Peaks written by Lance Watson from LifeSport Coaching.  Read the original article here. It is also a progression on the session from a couple of weeks ago:

Friday Fartlek Run: Lance Watson’s Speedplay

Lance Watson’s Double Speedplay

  • 12min WU Level II;
  • 2x
    • 3min building intensity made up of:
      • 1min Level III;
      • 1min level IV;
      • 1min Level V;
    • 2min Level II RI;
    • 7min Level IV, 3min Level II RI;
    • 3min Level V, 5min Level II RI;
  • 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 twelve minutes.

There are three main sets in this workout and they are done twice through.

The first one is three minutes long and starts off by running at Level III for one minute, then increasing your effort to Level IV for a minute, and then the last minute is done at Level V. After this jog at Level II for two minutes as your Rest Interval (RI).

The second one is done at Level IV for seven minutes prior to a three-minute Rest Interval (RI) jogging at Level II.

The third one is three minutes long running at Level V. After this rep jog at Level II for five minutes to recover prior to repeating the sets again from the three-minute build effort.

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

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

Friday Fartlek Run: Goater’s Pyramid

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