Fartlek is Swedish for speed play. It was run on soft, forgiving surfaces of Swedish trails. The workouts have as many varieties as you and your coach can consider. Arne Anderssen and Gunder Haag, the two Swedish milers who took the WR from 4:06.4 to 4:01.6 during WW2 popularized the sessions. A Holmer Fartlek, named after coach Gustav Holmer is an out and back run, where you run the second half faster than the first. No too fast, but enough to limit our talking. Then, follow up with stride outs.
Stride outs, photo by HOKA NAZ Elite
Monday, January 28, 2019-warm up, 45 minute Holmer fartlek, go out easy 22.5 minutes, come back strong, 4 x 150m stride outs, core training, cooldown
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Week 4, 2019 Track buildup-nothing in spikes, flats all week
Monday-warm up, 45 minute Holmer fartlek, go out easy 22.5 minutes, come back strong, 4 x 150m stride outs, core training, cooldown
Tuesday-warm up, 20 minute temp run, run at 30 second per mile above your 5k current race pace, 4 x 150m stride outs, cooldown
Wednesday-warm up, 50 minute run, 4 x 150m, core training, cooldown
Thursday-warm up, 20 minute run, 8 x 200 m, good pace, 100m jog, 20 minute run, 8 x 350m, good pace, 100m jog, 20 minute run, 8 x 200m, good pace, 100m jog, 1 mile easy, then cooldown.
Friday-warm up, 50 minute run, 4 x 150m, core training, cooldown
Saturday-warm up, race 800m, 1000m or 3200m, cooldown. Or, run 45 minutes easy.
Sunday-warm up, 55 minutes, cooldown