Fartlek is the Swedish term for “speed play,” and that’s exactly what you will be doing in this workout. By playing around with how long your speed intervals last, you’ll get a hard workout while having fun!

In this workout, you will run at 3 different paces: at your normal, easy pace for the slow intervals, your moderate pace (this should be around 45-90 seconds per mile faster than your slow pace) and push it hard for the fast intervals (about 2-2.5 minutes per mile faster than your slow pace). The intervals are short and introduce your legs (and mind) to faster running. You don’t have to run hard for more than 1-2 minutes at a time in this run. Let’s get to it!

The Workout

  • Warm up with 5 minutes of easy running.
  • Run 5 minutes at a steady pace.
  • Run 1 minute fast.
  • Run 1 minute slow.
  • Run 1 minute fast.
  • Run 1 minute slow.
  • Run 2 minutes fast.
  • Run 2 minutes slow.
  • Run 1 minute fast.
  • Run 1 minute slow.
  • Run 1 minute fast.
  • Run 1 minute slow.
  • Run 2 minutes fast.
  • Cool down with 6 minutes of easy running.

Remember, getting faster is a personal goal. It doesn’t matter if you improve by two minutes or 10 seconds, every little bit counts!

Looking to improve your pace? Check out the ASICS Runkeeper app and add more workouts like this to your running toolkit.