The Heart Rate Fartlek
By Coach Roy Benson, MPE

You may know that the term fartlek, or "speed-play," refers to a workout that involves alternating periods of hard and easy running. Less structured than track workouts, these can be done anywhere, on any terrain.

The Heart Rate Fartlek is a variation of this classic running workout that incorporates feedback from your heart monitor, to insure that all that freedom doesn't result in a workout that is too hard or too easy, given your overall plan for the rest of the week, and for the season.

This workout requires you to set your heart monitor alarms, high and low, to values that bracket your target training zone. I use lower values early in the season (60-75% effort) and use the workout to add interest to all those base building miles. Then later in the season, I will raise the low and high heart rate values to 70-85%, and the workout becomes a challenging day at your AT level.

Set your high and low alarms, but turn them off at first. After a jogging warmup, turn on the monitor's alarms. Shift gears to a quicker pace until you hit the upper limit and your monitor begins to beep. Then slow down to a jog until you hit the low end of your zone and the low beeper sounds. That is when you know it is time to pick it up again. Repeat these pace changes for the workout duration, and finish with a jog cooldown.

The beautiful thing about this workout is that it is self adjusting. You can alter the duration of both the work and recovery segments, by adjusting your fast and slow paces slightly. This gives you more or less rest, as needed, but always keeps you within the boundaries you have set for that workout.

Another beauty of this workout is that you can perform it many different ways. On a flat course, it gives you a chance to stretch out your stride, even on an easy day. I also like to take this workout out to the trails, and use the uphill segments for the work, and the downhills for the rest. There, I call it my "Hard and Hilly Heart Rate Fartleks".

Each Summer, Coach Benson teaches thousands of runners how to train using a heart rate monitor. For more information on his camps, or private coaching from Coach Benson, visit www.coachbenson.com.

You will find the Heart Rate Fartlek, as well as many other heart rate based workouts, when you use the Coach Benson Heart Rate Running Plan software. To order Coach Benson's training software, or any PC Coach product, visit our order page.