Thanks for your description Officer.I liked your wording so i hope you don't mind (in this particular case) if i quoted you selectively to reiterate some key characteristics of what i see as being Fartlek.
Officer Notta Jag wrote:
... depending on how their body responds...They don't force anything...pace changing based on how they feel...
So lets agree, just as an exercise, that the most important aspect of Fartlek - Speed Play - is mental, as much as it is the Play that affects the Speed.
So the word Play makes me think of Theather. Ok? Acceptable?
Lets move on. Does it bother you if i call a Fartlek a Structured Improvisation? Too contradictory?
Ok? But how can I make Drama a training tool for competitive results?
So, Running Drama. In Theater - where "performances" also take place, what comes immediately to mind is Commedia dell'Arte, where actors (Drama Athletes) with more or less established characters have only a loose "canovaccio" (narrative structure) as opposed to a set script.
They will try to act out - helped by their confidence in Improvization, an enjoyable and universal story.
So, Commedia dell' Arte = Fartlek. A training session is a theme, a possible story, a "canovaccio". But how do you do it? Really, just the first three canovacci that come to mind.
1) SOLO: like an on-stage monologue with much, frequent, creative ad libbing on a central theme. Delivery is the accelerator;
2)RUNNER and COACH: a very interactive back and forth with the coach (director), based the boundary defined by what the coach suggests and the runner believes. The best stage seems to be the track.
3)THE PACK: Like group role-playing with some dominant characters leading but also sweeping, herding if you will, the followers, the object being to be as reciprocally supportive and cohesive as a team could be.
Just free associating here. Maybe stretching the box boundaries waaaaaaaay toooooooo much. Probably impossible to even start thinking about.