Today is a fartlek workout, done on the grass or good trails, and shaking it up a bit.
Fartlek was developed in the 1930s by Olympian Gosta Holmer, who was also the Swedish national coach. Holmer was unhappy with how his Swedish distance runners were getting dusted in European cross country.
So, he developed an interval system not run on tracks, but using the natural wonders of Sweden to build strength and speed!
It’s going to be a hard day for the Brooks Beasts TC! photo by Zeth Pekestra for Brooks Running
Our workout today:
Warmup slowly,
70 minute fartlek,
The 10-minute first section easy to moderate for ten minutes,
5 x 1 minute hard, I minute easy,
five times 3 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy
1 time, six minutes hard, four minutes easy,
10 minutes, moderate to easy
Cooldown slowly,
Hydrate,
get out of wet clothes,
recover.
Larry’s Deep Thoughts:Fartlek is as complicated as you want it. When fit, I would juggle 1 to five-minute hard runs with shorter recoveries so that I was charging tired to simulate the middle of a race, where you want to do anything but race.
Brooks Wire 8, photo by Brooks Running, is great for 800m to 5,000m. You can find out more at www.brooksrunning.comHyperion Elite, photo by Brooks Running; learn more about this great shoe at www.brooksrunning.com
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.
