The idea of a good hour run in a park, with a good long hill charge, and keeping it a good effort for the remainder of the hour is a Holmer fartlek idea. Holmer was a Swedish cross country coach in the 1920s, who was disgusted with the fitness of his athletes. He made much of the use of the wood chip-strewn trails in Sweden, and pushed the idea of ‘Speed play’, to build the fitness of his cross country teams.
Now, we see fartlek as a bespoke training device that can help beginning runners and has also honed the fitness of four time Olympic gold medalists who were nursing sore Achilles and legs.
5000m, Women, 2021 US Olympic Trials, photo by Kevin Morris
Saturday: warm-up, 60 minutes run in a park, moderate pace, with ten-minute hilly runs during the run, cooldown
2021 RunBlogRun, week # 9, Summer mileage, day 6
Monday: light run, 40 minutes easy pace, stretch, 4 x 150 m stride-outs, light cooldown.
Tuesday: warm-up, relaxed 55-65 minute run in the hills, enjoy the day, cooldown.
Wednesday: light run, 40 minutes easy pace, stretch, 4 x 150 m light cooldown.
Thursday: warm-up, run in the hills, get in 40 minutes in your 65 minute run of hill running, cooldown.
Friday: light run, 40 minutes easy pace, stretch, 4 x 150 m stride-outs, light cooldown.
Saturday: warm-up, 60 minutes run in a park, moderate pace, with ten-minute hilly runs during the run, cooldown
Sunday: Long run, 65-75 minutes, at a conversational pace
