Diary Of A Road Runner » Fartlek

5 Mile Fartlek Session – 45 mins – Not Bad!

Road-Runner-Rob — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:13:02 +0000

Loosely a Fartlek session, started off with couple of K’s easy, then did a flat out k in 4:33 after which needed a walk break, then jogged along for a k, then did another faster one on a whim, at 4:54, then jogged some more as it started to pour down with rain and the thunder and lightning started up which was cool, I showered as I ran under overflowing drainpipes, and decided to speed up for a last burst, which was slower at 5:10 but I was getting tired.

I can see how intervals/fartlek could really help at training the body to run at high intensity for short periods, then put these all together in a race, so I will be doing more of this after the Moonraker 10k on Sunday.

Fartlek Session that went wrong – 5k 28 mins

Road-Runner-Rob — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:38:07 +0000

Failed Fartlek session – felt Ok to start with but first fast k did me in completely, never really got going and cut it short, felt far too hot by the end – was a very hot day and it was hottest part of the day, though I did pass a guy in a woolly hat so either he’s mad or I am!

8k Fartlek – cold day – 43:05

Road-Runner-Rob — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:06:41 +0000

My first experiment with the world of fartlek! Not sure if I get the concept fully, but since it is supposed to be flexible, doing intervals of 1k appealed to me as I could then measure my relative speeds for running and jogging on the Garmin.

Did a couple of k warmup then launched into the first hard k – struggled a bit and was only just under a 5 minute split, and was ready to give up! But jogged the next k and then did a slightly faster one, before jogging again then blasting a 4:36 split which is getting into the realms of serious speed for me Then jogged a very slow cool down.

In all an interesting experience and certainly felt my body being surprised as I am used to running at a fairly even pace or accelerating gradually over the course of a run. So will repeat again as am sure this will help in improving my 10k performance

Splits:

5:39
5:36
4:48
5:40
4:57
5:39
4:36
6:03

Best pace 3:54/k