What is it?
It’s a system of training for elite and recreational distance-runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied. It intermixes continuous training with interval training, or, more simply, periods of fast running with periods of slower running.
What does it mean?
The term comes from the Swedish words for ‘speed’ and ‘play’ – ‘fart’ and ‘lek’. Curiously, Fartlek, despite its popularity in the running community, is not a common word in Sweden; most non-running Swedes are unlikely to recognise it.
How was it designed?
It was developed in the 1930s by Swedish cross-country coach Gosta Holmer in response to the team’s poor performances against its Finnish rivals. Holmer’s idea was to train at a faster-than-race pace, combining speed and endurance work.
How does it work?
“Speed-play”, according to Runner’s World , is exactly that: fun and unstructured, untethered to a watch or a plan. You play with speed by running at faster efforts for short periods (to that tree, to the sign), followed by easy-effort running to recover.
