This is the ultimate Covid-19 stress buster. Run it from home, in your neighbourhood and have a blast!

WHAT

Fartlek: 6x3mins @ your 1-hour race effot (2min jogs)

With 6x15secs strides anywhere in the workout!

Terrain: Mix it up and keep it local.

Feels: Stress busting!

No specific paces to hit and the freedom to blast out fast 15-seconds whenever you feel like it—this workout is designed for maximum fun! It’s got enough work in it to get up a sweat, but also enough recovery to make sure you’re training sensibly during lockdown .

WHY

So often as runners we ask ourselves “what can I do today for my running?” This workout is designed to flip that on its head and ask “What can my running do for me?” It’s a chance to blow some steam and throw in some speed whenever you feel like it—because a little freedom right now is just what the doctor ordered!

HOW

For those who haven’t done a fartlek, it means “speed play” in Swedish and is a chance to forget your splits and distances and just run by feel. The feels we are after is your one-hour race effort for the 3-minute intervals and about mile pace for the 15-second strides.

Use the TempoFit.org calculator to work out your paces.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEk:

THE LONG GAME

Covid-19 has cancelled pretty much every race on the planet and although there are some cool online challenges to take part in (check out the Virtual challenges I’m helping run with Athletics New Zealand) now is not the time to be going deep to the well in any one run or race.

So, instead, without an upcoming race breathing down our necks, we have the opportunity to play the long game and work on some one percenters that will help our running in a year or two.

Those long game tactics you could start working on right now are:

Strength: You’ll want to start off with bodyweight exercises anyway, so now is a perfect time to do some regular bodyweight squats, lunges, single leg squats and core work.
Mobility: Us runners typically have TERRIBLE mobility, especially if we also work desk jobs. Now is the time to reclaim some of that lost mobility. Find a good yoga class on Youtube and incorporate it every week.
Speed: A great natural consequence of increased speed and mobility is that we can typically run faster. So, here’s a challenge, why not make the next six months the time when you’re going to find lost fifth gear by gradually working your way up to doing weekly sprint workouts—not just strides, but genuine sprints (warning: you won’t to just go there over night!).

Got a training question? Email me!