Maintaining a fast pace that can be sustained for close to 5km is important to develop speed for a range of events (especially for triathletes at the end of their event). This session is great for runners and triathletes preparing for an event between 5 & 10km and will also pay dividends for events up to and including a ½ marathon distance.
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 is often used by runners and it means speed-play. See a previous post about training intensity (levels) to know how hard to work.
This week’s workout was inspired by a workout in the Global Triathlon Networks video “How to Run 5k in Under 20 Minutes”. GTN recommends running at 4:00min/km pace for the efforts to train to run a sub-20min 5k, but for all others, I recommend running the efforts at Level V.
GTN’s Mini Pyramid
- 10min WU Level II;
- 3x
- 1min Level V, 30sec Level II RI;
- 2min Level V, 30sec Level II RI;
- 3min Level V, 30sec Level II RI;
- 2min Level V, 30sec Level II RI;
- 1min Level V, 90sec Level II RI;
- 10min CD Level II;
- 10min Stretching
Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) for a minimum of ten minutes of easy jogging at Level II.
The main set is made up of three sets. Each set is made up of 5 reps at Level V. Each rep is followed by a 30-second Rest Interval (RI) jogging at Level II. Both the first and fifth reps are one minute long, with the second and fourth reps being two minutes long and the third rep being three minutes long. After the final rep take an extra 60 seconds for the Rest Interval (RI) (total of 90 seconds) prior to the start of the next set.
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.
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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