What is Fartlek Training? Best Running Workouts For Speed & Endurance
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What is Fartlek and how did the hosts first discover it?
Welcome to Untap the Extra Mile with me, Spence Matthews. And me, Ollie Patrick. Today we're going to talk about different styles of running sessions. Because there's so many, right? I've been invited to Kenya. Aminal Petros came in here, legendary marathon runner, current European marathon champion. At what time? Well, he has a P B of two oh four. I believe he ran two oh nine or something in in uh in the in the world champs, but it was enough to win it. He himself Signor Petros invited me to train in Kenya. And it's it's you know, it's a touch nerve wracking. I said I'd go, of course. Yes. But you know, they're the best marathoners in the world. And the session that keeps coming up in in Kenya that I've heard now from a number of people, Nick Bester was telling me that he also trains in Kenya, is the fartlek session.
Fartlek. Fartlek. And you are hearing that correctly. Oh I I know, I know I am. F A R T L E K. K. Yeah, I see. I wasn't tapping there. No, I wasn't I know wha how to spell fart leg, thank you. Steven Scullion. Big fan of the fartlek. Uh the fartlek was Was that in your schedule? Yes, yes, absolutely.
But how would he schedule when the definition of fartlek, the Swedish word no less, is speed play. Right? So everyone who loves the the word fartlek goes, it's actually Swedish for speed play. And then and then knowledge and discussion tends to cease. So this is what speed play? Speed play. Speed play.
Speed play. So it's a it's an over-under, basically. Could be. Don't know what that means. Over-under is essentially I'm gonna run one K at marathon pace and then float a K and then run another K at marathon pace. So I may be, if I'm doing an over-under session and I've got a 20K session, I might do 10 over-unders just to break it up. Yep. And I might run A K at three forty five, a K at four ten, a K at three forty five, a K at four ten, a K at three forty five, K at four ten.
How does Fartlek differ from traditional interval, over‑under, and progression runs?
No,
so so I think that's an interval session.
Of course. Yeah but Over under. Over
under. Yeah. What you've got there is structured. You're saying I'm gonna do that block at that speed. I'm so glad by the way that Fartlek
is not that 'cause when I came into this episode I was thinking, I don't really understand why there's so many different ways of calling the s uh like a spade a spade. But I thought Fartlek was over under's, but
Evidently it's not. Well, I think you it the the challenge is it by very definition, it was one of the early iterations of interval training. So it was designed by a Swedish guy who noticed there was a significant gap in performance of Swedish athletes compared to Finnish athletes. And so he designed this methodology of effectively structuring unstructured intervals where where you would change pace, change terrain, but in a fairly uh non-structured way. So I I managed to to take my daughter out for a run the other day and I and I did a fartlick session in what I believe is the true definition of Fartlick, which is, okay, let's run as hard as we can to that tree. And then we'll recover for a bit and oh, there's a hill coming up.
We're gonna push the hill. And then we go around the corner and then we're gonna run uh half speed to the bridge. Right. We are playing. with our speed, we are fart lacking. That's interesting. That so that so my fartlegs have always been planned. But so then uh how would we separate that it's a fartlek session from an interval session? My thoughts exactly.
It's really funny to me that I speak to running coaches, I speak to professional athletes, I speak to Olympic runners, and and they all they all complicate running. But then they also, in the same breath, also, well, running's not complicated, just go and run. And it's like, well, you say that, but like I've actually ran fifty sessions with different names. Yes. But they all feel the same, really. I uh as far as I'm aware, right, there's there's Steady runs. Yep. So a steady run for me. Uh, particularly one based off heart rate is you set off You find, you know, your heart rate mar may vary or or or you know, when you fur when I first set off my heart rates at one twenty, even if I'm pushing.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Fartlek and how did the hosts first discover it?
0:00–2:00
2
How does Fartlek differ from traditional interval, over‑under, and progression runs?
2:00–4:31
3
What physiological changes occur in the body when you repeatedly change pace during a Fartlek?
4:31–6:59
4
Why do elite Kenyan runners rely on Fartlek training for race‑day preparation?
6:59–10:43
5
How can you design a balanced Fartlek session without strict pace targets?
10:43–13:58
6
What are the benefits of mixing structured workouts with the “play” of Fartlek?
13:58–17:08
7
How should runners incorporate Fartlek into a polarized training plan?
17:08–19:12
8
What key takeaways should listeners apply to improve speed, endurance, and enjoyment?
19:12–21:47
Speakers
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