Fartleks

Fartlek is derived from the Swedish, meaning ”speed play”, and is an unstructured form of speed training. It is a form of interval training, but without the timings and strictness. Intervals can get boring at times, and Fartlek are ideal for people who want to work on their speed work when running with a friend, instead of following a strict regime. Because these are very physically challenging if done properly, it is recommended that they are only done by experienced runners.

If you’re running down a road and spot a lamppost 100 metres ahead, sprint for it, and sprint as hard as you can until you reach your goal. This is brilliant when running with a friend because you can just say “race you to there”. It can really liven up long distance running.

When using Fartlek, you should aim to run 50 metres minimum on each sprint and try and put in 110%, otherwise it’s pointless. This type of activity can not only make you faster at sprinting, but shave quite a bit of time off your long distance times.

When you always see people running hard at the end of a race it means that they have trained to push the boundaries, even when you've ran 26 miles. Again, Fartlek can aid you on this. If you go out for a long run, push yourself towards the end to train for the sprint at the end of an endurance event.