Fartlek, excuse me

Today I went out for my usual run. I have been thinking a lot about heading to the track and doing some speedwork. Well I haven’t managed to do that for a variety of reasons; no shade, crowded in the morning, my running routine, etc. I have been reading Bowerman and the Men of Oregon about Bill Bowerman coach of University of Oregon and Nike co-founder. Very interesting book and full of stories about his athletes and coaching style. He reminded me about the ease of doing fartleks for speedwork. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play” and essentially amounts to start running faster and after a little bit, slow down to normal or slower pace, then repeat. One thing I like to do is pick a spot in the distance, be it a tree, sign or car and run fast to it. Part of my routine run takes me along a thin greenway that goes for a mile or so. Its broken up by streets that cross it and makes for a great fartlek route. Run for a block, slow down for a block. As with all speed work their are a lot of specific workouts you can do taking you up to 5K speed and then slowing down to certain percentages of marathon pace or walk. To simplify it all comes down to speed up and then slow down. I try to feel it out and pick up my pace to where I am moving fast (say 25% less than a sprint) and then trotting along at a slow pace to cool down. I like to get up to a 2-2 (steps in, 2 steps out) breathing pace, then back down to a 3-2 (my normal 3 in , 2 out). I forgot about what a great workout it makes. I did about 2 miles of fartlek and I was pooped. I definitely felt it.

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