Fartlek training: speed work without the track
Fartlek is Swedish for speed play. It is the session I would point most runners to before they ever set foot on a track: fast running arranged by feel rather than by a rigid set of reps.
Fartlek is a Swedish word that means speed play, which is either charming or slightly annoying depending on your mood. The idea behind it is one of the most useful in running. If intervals feel intimidating, or you just do not have a track, fartlek is how you get most of the benefit with none of the ceremony.
What fartlek actually is
A fartlek is a run with faster bursts mixed into it. That is it. You are not stopping to fully recover between efforts the way you would in a track session. You ease off, keep jogging, and go again when you are ready. The hard bits can be timed, two minutes on and two minutes easy, or completely loose: surge to that tree, float to the next lamp post, go again on the bridge.
The difference from structured intervals is the looseness. Intervals are precise, with set distances, set paces and set recoveries. Fartlek is a conversation with the road. Both make you faster. Fartlek just asks less of your willpower.
Why it works
Two reasons, one physical and one mental.
Physically, the surges push you into the harder efforts that build speed and raise the ceiling on what feels comfortable. It is the same stimulus you would get from intervals, without needing a track to measure it. Run enough of them and your easy pace quietly gets quicker.
Mentally, it is the session people actually look forward to. A track workout can feel like an exam. A fartlek feels like play, which is the whole point of the name, and the sessions you enjoy are the sessions you will still be doing in six months.
A few fartlek sessions to try
- The classic 1-2-3-2-1. After a warm-up, run one minute hard then one minute easy; then two and two; three and three; then back down two and one. Easy jog to finish.
- Landmark fartlek. On a normal run, pick features as you go. Surge to the next junction, ease to the following one. No watch required.
- The Mona fartlek. A session from Australian runner Steve Moneghetti: 90 seconds hard and 90 easy twice, then 60/60 twice, 30/30 twice, 15/15 twice. Twenty minutes, brutal, brilliant.
Where it fits in your week
For most runners, one session of fast running a week is plenty, sometimes two if you are building toward a race. Fartlek slots neatly into that spot, especially early in a training block when you want the speed stimulus without the pressure of hitting exact paces. As a race gets closer you might swap some of it for more specific work.
If you are racing anything from the 800m and 1500m up through the longer distances, fartlek earns its place in the plan.
Where TrainPlan fits
The catch with running by feel is knowing how hard to play, and how often. TrainPlan writes the fast sessions into your plan at paces built from your own recent running, then adjusts them based on how each one actually went. Nail it and the next one nudges up. Blow up halfway and it eases off, and tells you why.
TRY IT IN A PLAN
Put speed play into a plan that adapts.
TrainPlan sets the paces from your own running and moves the next session based on how this one went.
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