{"id":767,"date":"2022-12-11T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ecrunproject.com\/blog\/?p=767"},"modified":"2022-11-14T16:42:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T16:42:44","slug":"running-101-flexible-fartlek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecrunproject.com\/blog\/running-101-flexible-fartlek\/","title":{"rendered":"Workout of the Month: Flexible Fartlek"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word fartlek is Swedish and means speed play.\u00a0 That sounds fun!\u00a0 And these runs or workouts are fun.\u00a0 That’s the point.\u00a0 You’re spending time at race or faster than race pace without the suffering of standard speed workouts.\u00a0 Team ECRP<\/a> loves having these sessions on their training calendar and here’s why you will, too.\"fartlek\"<\/p>\n

Fartlek workouts have tons of benefits.\u00a0 They will help you get faster and improve endurance capacity while getting better at closing the finish of a race.\u00a0 You’ll also increase your mental toughness and ability to feel your paces.\u00a0 Heck, it’s even defined<\/a> as “a system of training for distance runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied to eliminate boredom and enhance psychological aspects of conditioning.”\u00a0 So what’s the big deal and how do all of those things happen?<\/p>\n

Fartlek work is different from a typical steady state long run because, as mentioned above, it includes short sections of faster running.\u00a0 It’s also different from standard interval work because you continue to run while you’re resting or recovering.\u00a0 This unstructured-ness means there’s no end to the fun you can have.\u00a0 These mixed up ons and offs also keep your heart rate higher for the duration of the workout and that means improved fitness.<\/p>\n

Option one for building a workout is to use landmarks.\u00a0 Pick a road with light posts and pick it up for two on, two off.\u00a0 Change the pattern throughout the session or each time you run that route to continue challenging both your body and mind.\u00a0 A second option is to run faster when you feel like it and slower when you don’t.\u00a0 Hills can also provide a good place for increasing and decreasing effort at irregular intervals.\u00a0 A hilly road with regular light posts is a fartlek paradise.<\/p>\n

Fartlek workouts are also useful at any time during a training cycle.\u00a0 Since they’re so adjustable the intensity is easy to change.\u00a0 The variability means you can ramp up speeds while decreasing jog time for race prep but reverse that pattern for maintenance or recovery.\u00a0 To work on closing speed throw in some faster pick ups towards the end of your session.\u00a0 When you’re in a rut or want to have some fun on a group run, take off for a low pressure, flexible fartlek.<\/p>\n

Coach Meredith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word fartlek is Swedish and means speed play.\u00a0 That sounds fun!\u00a0 And these runs or workouts are fun.\u00a0 That’s the point.\u00a0 You’re spending time at race or faster than race pace without the suffering of standard speed workouts.\u00a0 Team ECRP loves having these sessions on their training calendar and here’s why you will, too. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[15],"tags":[145,51,9,29,4],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWorkout of the Month: Flexible Fartlek - East Coast Run Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fartlek is a fun word and the workout itself is fun, too. 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