What does my coach mean when he says "30 minutes fartlek" for training for cross country?? thanks in advance!

Question

What does my coach mean when he says "30 minutes fartlek" for training for cross country?? thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Ouch...haven't heard that term since I was in high school...and that was many years ago.

As I recall, "fartlek" means to vary your speed of running. So when he says do 30 minutes of fartlek, he means run for 30 minutes alternating fast, slow and medium speeds...you might jog for a few minutes...then sprint for a hundred yards, then run at a medium speed for a few minutes, slow to a jog, run fast, etc.

It makes for a really good workout.

Answer 2

i would say the same thing

Answer 3

Fartlek means speed play.  Many variations to do this.  You can do as other's mentioned above, but I would have a plan so you get qaulity training and don't vary your speeds based on fatigue.  You can do an out and back run 16 to 17 minutes out with a goal of 13 to 14 minutes to get back.  You can do 5 min w/u with1 min hard, 2 min recovery throughout and then 5 min recovery.  Just a few examples