How to Run Fast with Fartleks

“Everybody says my way is great but improbable. All greatness is improbable.”
– Lao Tzu

If you want to run fast, it’s not as simple as running more. While any exercise if great for improving your health, improving your speed takes more thoughtful work. If you lace up your shoes and spend some time running, you’ll see improvements, but slow jogging (or “slogging”) is a slow way to get faster.

One effective method for getting faster is the fartlek. Fartlek is a Swedish phrase that translates to “speed play,” and for runners, it’s a fun way to improve your speed.

A fartlek run involves varying your speed from easy to hard over short intervals. You can run hard for a minute, then run easy for a minute. Or if you’re a beginner, you can alternate between jogging for a block and walking for a block. The intervals can be unstructured (go hard for 3 light posts and easy for 2 light posts), they can be timed (one minute on, one minute off), or distance-based (hard for a mile, easy for a mile).

Fartleks are a fun way to train because they work for any runner: since you don’t have to keep any specific speed, they let you train at a pace that feels fun for you. You can slow down on the easy legs when you’re tired, you can open up your speed without having to worry about maintaining pace, you keep moving even when you’re running easy (so you train your endurance more effectively), and you break the monotony of running at a single pace.

I first tried a fartlek run using the Nike Run Club guided run, which does a great job of explaining the run. I’ve found fartleks to make treadmill runs significantly less boring, which is a big win for the summer.

—Erik Pavia, CEO