Sport. Running: discover fartek, a technique to improve your speed

The term fartlek is believed to originate from the Swedish language, combining "fart" for speed and "lek" meaning to play. Literally, it means running in a playful way while adapting one's speed to the terrain.

That is to say, by maintaining a good pace or even accelerating on the climbs, while approaching the descents smoothly, relaxing but… without necessarily holding back! And on the flat? You maintain your endurance pace.

Between moderate and intense effort, fartlek training is a form of interval training. Well-known to runners preparing for a marathon or half-marathon, it's generally practiced on a track, with the focus on the clock and the distances – 100m, 200m, etc. – to be covered, as determined in the training plan. The idea here is to synchronize your pace with the inclines and declines, and to listen to your body's signals.

Demanding sessions

In practice, choose a suitable route, consisting of small hills and just as many descents, ideally in nature: trails, forest, or even an urban park. The goal, as with any interval training session, is to increase your so-called "base" endurance speed ("marathon pace"). In other words, a speed at which you are only slightly out of breath, to the point that you can easily hold a conversation. And during training—for a marathon, for example—using this method, you will gradually increase this speed while remaining comfortable.

Anticipate

Finally, be aware that a fartlek session requires:

• a warm-up of about twenty minutes, including the ankles;
• shoes that grip the ground well, in the style of so-called trail shoes;
• To be in good shape, avoid scheduling such a session if you feel tired. In that case, it's best to postpone it to avoid overtraining syndrome.

Source: Running, from jogging to the marathon. By Michel Delore. Amphora Publisher