Fartlek 20
Twenty minutes of surges from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, each followed by the same time easy. Fartlek is Swedish for "speed play": run the surges by feel, a bit faster for the short ones, and jog the easy parts rather than walking.
- Time
- 35 min
- Main set
- 20 min of surges
- Good for
- Run, Trail
Warm-up20 min of surgesCool-down
The session
- 10:00Warm-upEasy
- 2:00WorkHard
- 2:00RecoveryJog, don't walkEasy
- 1:00WorkHard
- 1:00RecoveryEasy
- 0:30WorkHard
- 0:30RecoveryEasy
- 1:30WorkHard
- 1:30RecoveryEasy
- 0:30WorkHard
- 0:30RecoveryEasy
- 2:00WorkHard
- 2:00RecoveryEasy
- 1:00WorkHard
- 1:00RecoveryEasy
- 1:30WorkHard
- 1:30RecoveryEasy
- 5:00Cool-downEasy
How to pace it
Run the surges by feel: a bit faster for the 30-second ones, more controlled for the two-minute ones. Jog the easy parts rather than walking. There is no target pace, which makes it a good session for trails and rolling routes.
Who it’s for
Anyone who wants a structured hard session without a track. Fartlek is Swedish for speed play, a way of training that Swedish coach Gösta Holmér developed in the 1930s.
Running it as a group
Group fartlek usually means one runner shouting when to go. Here the calls come in everyone's ears at once, so the group can run it on any route without anyone leading.
Host the Fartlek 20 in PacePack
Pick it from the program library, share the code, and every phone in the group runs it on the same second, with a voice calling every interval and its effort.
The program library is part of Pro, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan. On Free, you can host Quick sessions of work and recovery with up to three runners.
iPhone only for now. Android is coming soon.
