what the heck are Fartleks ?

FARTLEKS - FARTLEKS - FARTLEKS I just love saying the word FARTLEK! Fartleks are the key to speed and endurance during the race. We can all go out and run for an hour and cover 5 miles but how many of us can cover 9 miles in one hour? If you want to cover more ground in a shorter period of time during your next race then start the FARTLEKS!A Fartlek is a Scandinavian word that means "speed play". Simply playing with your speed during a training session not only breaks up the run and helps the time go by quickly but it will improve your speed and recovery during the race. I would suggest a Fartlek run at least once a week.A fartlek is simply a change in speed for a short period of time. So during your next run after you have warmed up for about 8 minutes at an easy jog turn up the tempo. Run the next minute at a level that makes it had to talk. After the minute of hard running, slow your pace back down to an easy jog for about 3 minutes. Repeat the one minute on and three minutes off for 4 times. Make sure you cool down for about 8 minutes after your last hard effort.Over time you should slowly increase the length of each interval. Maybe run hard for two minutes and jog for 2 minutes. We have some athletes that will run hard for 10-12 minutes with only a 1-2 minute recovery jog between. The goal is to slowly increase the length of time you can run hard and decrease the amount of time it takes you to recover.In no time you will be able to put the hammer down and leave the other teams in the dust!

see you on the trails!