{"id":255,"date":"2011-09-11T16:49:45","date_gmt":"2011-09-11T16:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/?p=255"},"modified":"2025-11-21T09:41:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:41:18","slug":"top6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/fartlek\/top6.htm","title":{"rendered":"The Top 6 Favourite Fartlek Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you have a favourite fartlek session? &#8211; The following are considered the favourite six <a href=\"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/fartlek\">Fartlek<\/a> sessions for athletes, which are beneficial to the various competition distances.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>The Top 6 Favourite Fartlek Sessions<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/fartlek\/top6.htm\/attachment\/fartlekb_138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-256\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-256\" style=\"margin: 20px;\" title=\"Top 6 Fartlek Sessions\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/fartlekb_138.jpg?resize=138%2C200\" alt=\"Top 6 Fartlek Sessions\" width=\"138\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Note that all sessions have a 10 minute warm up jog and a 10 minute warm down. Because of the nature and often the stress of the session a thorough warm up is recommended, which should include a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/stretching\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stretching routine<\/a> to fully prepare the body.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watson Fartlek<\/strong><br \/>\nBeneficial training for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/10k\/\">10k<\/a>, 5k, 3k and cross country.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10 minutes warm up jog.<\/li>\n<li>Stride hard for 4 minutes with 1 minute jog recovery &#8211; repeat x 8<\/li>\n<li>10 minute warm down jog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Saltin Fartlek<\/strong><br \/>\nConsidered good training for 1500m, 5k and 3k runners.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10 minutes warm up jog.<\/li>\n<li>Stride hard for 3 minutes with 1 minute jog run recovery. Repeat x 6<\/li>\n<li>10 minute warm down jog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Astrand Fartlek<\/strong><br \/>\nConsidered to be beneficial towards 800m training.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10 minutes warm up jog.<\/li>\n<li>Max effort for 75 seconds, 150 secs jog run, max effort for 60 seconds, 120 seconds jog run. Repeat x 3<\/li>\n<li>10 minute warm down jog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Gerschler Fartlek<\/strong><br \/>\nThis is good training for further developing fitness rapidly when combined with steady running.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10 minutes warm up jog.<\/li>\n<li>Stride hard for 30 seconds, jog 90 seconds. repeat with 15 second \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 decreases in recovery jog e.g. 30-90, 30-75, 30-60, 30-45, 30-30, 30-15 and 30-15-30. Repeat x 3<\/li>\n<li>10 minute warm down jog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Hill Fartlek<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10 minutes warm up jog.<\/li>\n<li>Select a 2 mile hilly course. Run hard up all hills twice before moving to the next hill, jog run between hills. Repeat x 3<\/li>\n<li>10 minute warm down jog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Do not select hills which are too long in duration or too steep <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Whistle Fartlek<\/strong><br \/>\nWith the use of a whistle the coach controls the session. Best applied over a 1200m circumference grass area.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10 minutes warm up jog.<\/li>\n<li>When the whistle is blown the athletes run hard until the whistle is \u00a0blown again. Pyramid session of 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 2 min, 3 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 min, 4 min with a 60 second jog run recovery between each run.<\/li>\n<li>10 minute warm down jog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In conclusion: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/fartlek\/\">Fartlek<\/a> sessions are best applied to an athlete who has a base of fitness and is not aimed at those developing their initial fitness. Also worthy of mention is that the very nature of fartlek is to provide an environment that breaks from the monotony of interval training on a track. Whereas, the session is meant to achieve a purpose, the secret is to avoid the mental tension that is often associated with track <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/intervals\/\">intervals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Reference: MACKENZIE, B. (1998) Fartlek Training [WWW] Available from: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brianmac.co.uk\/fartlek.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.brianmac.co.uk\/fartlek.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Further articles under the Fartlek method:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"The Definition of Fartlek Training\" href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/fartlek\/definition-of-fartlek.htm\">The Definition of Fartlek<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"The creation of a Fartlek session discussed\" href=\"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/methods\/fartlek\/creation-fartlek-session.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Creation of a Fartlek Session<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>with more to follow<\/p>\n<p>Author: Gavin Doyle<br \/>\n<em>page updated 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you have a favourite fartlek session? &#8211; The following are considered the favourite six Fartlek sessions for athletes, which are beneficial to the various competition distances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,41],"tags":[45,42,46,47,44,43,48],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-fartlek","tag-astrand-fartlek","tag-fartlek-sessions","tag-gerschler-fartlek","tag-hill-fartlek","tag-saltin-fartlek","tag-watson-fartlek","tag-whistle-fartlek"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/fartleksession.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2445,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/2445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}