I do them during base training or if I'm not training for anything specific and just want to push a run. I like the idea of effort based reps at times where you're not obsessing over a set pace, it can be refreshing. However if I'm racing I am more inclined to do specific workouts on the track. I got significantly faster when I started doing most my intervals on the track vs the fartlek workouts on a path/trail somewhere.
On a site full of really dumb arguments, this is one of the dumbest.
So what does fartlek mean to you?
picking up the pace during a continuous run to an unspecific pace over an unspecific distance.
that's fine if you are on your own, but coaching HS kids or younger, I think it's perfectly fine to tell them to "pick it up" for X number of minutes, Y number of times over the course of Z distance (or time) run.
10 min easy-pick it up 8 x for 2:00 up/2:00 min down, 10 min easy. I would still call that a fartlek.
You're all wrong! The fartlek "purists" are just describing a run with random surges. That has existed longer than Sweden. There is no such thing as a kleenex, kleenex is just a brand of facial tissue. Same with Fartlek, just an exotic sounding brand name for run with surges. Timed intervals with an unstructured pace can be called a fartlek if you want it to be, because fartlek isn't real.
Also everyone is right about intevals. Intervals are the hard portion, and the resting portion, and the distance of the hard portion, and the time between starting boats of the hard portions and...
I started running again a year ago after 7 years of getting fat after high school. I do a fartlek once a week as my main workout 9-12 miles with 16-30 minutes of quality depending on where I am in training. I ran a 1:12 in the half and a 2:30 in the full basically just off steady miles and a weekly fart. I wasn’t this fast in high school and I tried super hard back then. Live by the fart, die by the fart.
picking up the pace during a continuous run to an unspecific pace over an unspecific distance.
that's fine if you are on your own, but coaching HS kids or younger, I think it's perfectly fine to tell them to "pick it up" for X number of minutes, Y number of times over the course of Z distance (or time) run.
10 min easy-pick it up 8 x for 2:00 up/2:00 min down, 10 min easy. I would still call that a fartlek.
You're all wrong! The fartlek "purists" are just describing a run with random surges. That has existed longer than Sweden. There is no such thing as a kleenex, kleenex is just a brand of facial tissue. Same with Fartlek, just an exotic sounding brand name for run with surges. Timed intervals with an unstructured pace can be called a fartlek if you want it to be, because fartlek isn't real.
Also everyone is right about intevals. Intervals are the hard portion, and the resting portion, and the distance of the hard portion, and the time between starting boats of the hard portions and...
No we know what it is. There’s just an angry old man in the thread trying to feel superior because he does real Fartleks not those damn timed ones that Kipchoge and the rest of those Kenyans do. 😂
Badcompany wrote: It’s a run with pick ups mixed in, a variable paced run. Dopey Fartlek “Purists” act like timing the pick ups changes everything. 😂
picking up the pace during a continuous run to an unspecific pace over an unspecific distance.
that's fine if you are on your own, but coaching HS kids or younger, I think it's perfectly fine to tell them to "pick it up" for X number of minutes, Y number of times over the course of Z distance (or time) run.
10 min easy-pick it up 8 x for 2:00 up/2:00 min down, 10 min easy. I would still call that a fartlek.
That is correct. Just adding a watch to regulate it in alternating segments does not make it not a fartlek.
picking up the pace during a continuous run to an unspecific pace over an unspecific distance.
that's fine if you are on your own, but coaching HS kids or younger, I think it's perfectly fine to tell them to "pick it up" for X number of minutes, Y number of times over the course of Z distance (or time) run.
10 min easy-pick it up 8 x for 2:00 up/2:00 min down, 10 min easy. I would still call that a fartlek.
That is correct. Just adding a watch to regulate it in alternating segments does not make it not a fartlek.
It doesn’t even have to be a watch. You can do a 400 on 200 off or something similar Fartlek on a track. No watch required.
Purists would say this is not a Fartlek because the distances aren’t random.
picking up the pace during a continuous run to an unspecific pace over an unspecific distance.
that's fine if you are on your own, but coaching HS kids or younger, I think it's perfectly fine to tell them to "pick it up" for X number of minutes, Y number of times over the course of Z distance (or time) run.
10 min easy-pick it up 8 x for 2:00 up/2:00 min down, 10 min easy. I would still call that a fartlek.
Unless it’s at a decent pace, a ten minute break is too long.
You're all wrong! The fartlek "purists" are just describing a run with random surges. That has existed longer than Sweden. There is no such thing as a kleenex, kleenex is just a brand of facial tissue. Same with Fartlek, just an exotic sounding brand name for run with surges. Timed intervals with an unstructured pace can be called a fartlek if you want it to be, because fartlek isn't real.
Also everyone is right about intevals. Intervals are the hard portion, and the resting portion, and the distance of the hard portion, and the time between starting boats of the hard portions and...
I think that your last paragraph illustrates the problem with the current crop of HS coaching. Training is considered to be a game of chess where the season hangs in the balance for every workout. The coach gets the credit for success and not the kids who put in the hard work.
If you look at the training for elite HS runners, their approaches are all over the map. The precise workouts I see on LRC are in pursuit of an edge that doesn’t exist.
picking up the pace during a continuous run to an unspecific pace over an unspecific distance.
that's fine if you are on your own, but coaching HS kids or younger, I think it's perfectly fine to tell them to "pick it up" for X number of minutes, Y number of times over the course of Z distance (or time) run.
10 min easy-pick it up 8 x for 2:00 up/2:00 min down, 10 min easy. I would still call that a fartlek.
Unless it’s at a decent pace, a ten minute break is too long.
That is 10 min easy on the front end and 10 min easy on the back end with the 2on/2off in between. No 10 min break.
You're all wrong! The fartlek "purists" are just describing a run with random surges. That has existed longer than Sweden. There is no such thing as a kleenex, kleenex is just a brand of facial tissue. Same with Fartlek, just an exotic sounding brand name for run with surges. Timed intervals with an unstructured pace can be called a fartlek if you want it to be, because fartlek isn't real.
Also everyone is right about intevals. Intervals are the hard portion, and the resting portion, and the distance of the hard portion, and the time between starting boats of the hard portions and...
I think that your last paragraph illustrates the problem with the current crop of HS coaching. Training is considered to be a game of chess where the season hangs in the balance for every workout. The coach gets the credit for success and not the kids who put in the hard work.
If you look at the training for elite HS runners, their approaches are all over the map. The precise workouts I see on LRC are in pursuit of an edge that doesn’t exist.
“For Amanda Vestri a descending tempo fartlek with pieces of 7:00, 6:00, 5:00, 4:00, 3:00, 2:00, 1:00, 2:00 (half time recovery) followed by 2 x 45 sec hills. Eric van der Els & teammate Dan Schaffer ran pieces of 4500m, 3000m, 1500m, 1000m & 4 x 45 sec hills.”