Half Marathon Training: Fartleks

Today I am going to try something different, I am planning to get in 4 miles, but want to try fartlek training. Anyone else done this??

I have done intervals before, but always for set times... this will be different. I will have to let you all know how it goes. BUT I decided to move my 4 miler from this weekend to today so that this weekend I don't have 4 miles one day and 6 the next, I can do my 3 mile day this weekend and 4 today. I have been so stressed at work that 4 miles will feel good.

It feels GOOD to sweat!
According to triathlon.com there are 9 ways to fartlek:


Stoplights: Think of this workout in three speeds—hard (red), moderate (yellow), easy (green). Run 30 sec hard, 90 easy, 60 moderate, 60 easy, 90 hard, 3 min easy. Repeat three or four times.

Give me five: From zero to five minutes, run at a comfortable, normal pace. At the five-minute mark, increase your speed for one minute. Drop back to normal speed until the 10-minute mark. Do this on the 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.

For the dogs: Coach Kristen Hislop has her Albany, N.Y., athletes do a fartlek in a local park with plenty of dogs. “They use passing the dogs as a flag to speed up or recover,” she says. “The smaller the dog, the faster they have to go!”

From the heart: If you train with a heart rate monitor, you can bounce between your various zones, including Zone 2/easy, Zone 3/tempo and Zone 4/hard. Do 20 minutes as: 3 easy, 5 tempo, 2 hard, 5 tempo, 2 hard, 3 easy. Follow that with 15 minutes as: 5 easy, 2 tempo, 1 hard, 2 tempo, 5 easy.

Mailboxes: Base your harder intervals on mailboxes. Make it random: Run hard for two mailboxes, recover for three, run hard for three, recover for two. Can also be done with streetlamps.

Treadmill hills: Walk “uphill” at a 6 percent incline for three minutes. Run at a 4 percent incline/6 mph for two minutes, then a 2 percent incline/6.5 mph for one minute, then a 1 percent incline/7 mph for 30 seconds. Recover with three minutes’ walking at zero percent. Every round, increase speed by 0.2 mph for every interval. (Adjust for ability level.)

Tour guide: Do a fartlek guided by a coach: Download a “runcast” from Energyfitnesscoaching.com. Coaches Rob and Kelly Wissolik lead you through either a 40- or 45-minute workout via your iPod.

Pushup break: When preparing for sprint triathlons, coach Tim Edwards does fartleks on a fitness course with steep hills. Replicate with or without a course: Stop every two to five minutes and do a round of pushups, situps, squats or short hill repeats throughout your run.

Pyramid: 1 min hard, 1 min easy, 2 hard, 2 easy, 3 hard, 3 easy, 2 hard, 2 easy, 1 hard, 1 easy (18 minutes total). The shorter the interval, the faster the pace.



I am going to try using the heart rate monitor method. I LOVE my polar and would love to use it to train with intervals!