Fartlek is Swedish for speed play, an unstructured training run that mixes fast and slow segments based on feel rather than fixed distances or times. Unlike formal intervals, there's no set plan, you might surge to a landmark then jog to recover, all within one continuous run.
Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning speed play. It refers to a free-form running workout that blends periods of faster and slower running within a single run.
Intervals use a fixed structure, set distances or times for both the hard effort and the recovery. Fartlek is looser, you decide when to speed up and slow down as you go, based on how you feel or landmarks around you.
Warm up easy, then pick random cues, a tree, a song, a set number of minutes, and run faster until the next one, jogging easy in between. Repeat for however long your workout calls for, then cool down.
Yes, it's one of the more approachable ways to introduce speed work because there's no pressure to hit exact paces or splits. It teaches pace variation in a low-stress, flexible format.