What is Fartlek Training?

It is time for us to attribute some credit of physical training to Sweden.  Fartlek training as a concept, originated in Sweden with the then Swedish Coach Gosta Holmer introducing this technique in the 1930s.  Gosta Holmer was the Swedish national coach of the Swedish cross-country teams.  Fartlek training has revolutionized the domain of running and athleticism, soccer, hockey and other field sports.

What is Fartlek Training?

When introduced in the early 1930s, Fartlek training sessions required athletes to run at a pace greater than the pace they would in the race.  The whole objective of Fartlek Training sessions is to check the endurance of the athletes.  The additional objective was to identify the performance threshold of the athletes that could allow the coaches to set new targets to their athletes.

Sounds interesting, but how are Fartlek training sessions broken up?

Fartlek Training sessions are broken into different modules. The only difference in other forms of interval training and Fartlek training is their approach.  While Interval training primarily focuses on not overstressing the body, Fartlek training optimizes the endurance level of the muscles.

Here is the step by step breakup of a Fartlek Training session:

• Warm up – The athlete is advised to do easy run laps for about 10 minutes.  This will ensure that the athlete’s body is warmed up for future exercises that could be more enduring.  Please note that if an athlete does ‘heavy-duty’ running without warming up, he could be in grave danger of pulling up due to cramps.

• Steady, optimum speed running – After the warm up, the athletes are advised to run at optimum speeds for a distance of 1.5 – 2 kilometers.  This is the most enduring part of Fartlek Training sessions. The body is given a recovery time of 5-10 minutes, not by sitting but by walking easily for about 10 minutes.

• Easy running for about 50 – 60 meters – The objective of this session is to allow athletes to get ready for sudden bursts of speed during the race.  These easy running sessions are interspersed with fast sprints. 

• Up the hill running – One of the best endurance tests for athletes is to for them to run up the hill for about 200 meters.  This ensures their body is fully geared to take optimum stress and load on the muscles.

If athletes thought that one Fartlek Training session could be the end of the whole training session, they are completely wrong.  The whole routine is repeated time and again until the time the training schedule is over.