Fartlek - Can I Say That in Polite Company?
By
Ralph Banasiak
Posted: 2020-08-02T21:45:00Z
Fartlek - not slang, not potty talk, not even junior high humor. In Swedish fartlek translates as "speed play" and refers to intervals of speed work alternating with periods of recovery. The intensity of this training and the contrast between speed work and recovery stresses both one's aerobic and anaerobic systems.
I first came across "fartlek" training while reading about cross-county runners. Swedish coach
Gösta Holmér developed this training in the 1930s as a method for beating the archrival Finnish team, led by Olympic gold medalist and legendary speedster Paavo Nurmi. But it can apply to any sport that requires bursts of speed, including cycling.
Many distance athletes are familiar with high intensity interval training (HIIT). Unlike HIITs, fartleks can be informal. Before the shutdown forced me into solo cycling, my weekend crew and I used fartleks to break up the sameness of a long ride and to challenge each other. Someone spots a speed limit sign or a prominent tree in the distance, yells "fartlek" and off we'd race to see who'd get there first. To be completely fair, the person would often yell the end target, but not always ...
Fartleks aren't as much fun if you ride by yourself - no need to yell out, for example - but they do break up a bike outing into self-challenges that can be exhausting and rewarding. For those using a fitness phone app to record their outings, like Strava, road or trail distances called segments can be set up by riders to serve the same purpose. Some are public for all riders to access; others can be defined as private segments just for you.
As with anything you do on your bike, or otherwise, you are the best judge of your own skills and limitations. Caution and prudence are your friends. But tossing in an occasional fartlek, whether solo or group cycling, can be a lot of fun. Even the name fartlek sounds like fun.
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