Running talk abounds in my world right now. A few weeks ago, the amazing Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in less than two hours. (That’s 26.2 miles, people. It would take me two hours to run half that far!) Speaking of a half marathon, my hubby is training for one in November. And, perhaps most importantly to this cross country coach, we have entered post season and are competing in district, region, and hopefully state championships over the next three weeks.
So yeah, lots of running talk. My runners are shifting their focus from distance training to speed work, which makes it necessary for us to use a funny Swedish word at practice – fartlek.
Yes, fartlek.
We can’t even say it without eliciting snickers from around our circle of runners, especially the middle schoolers. But fartlek actually has nothing to do with flatulence. It’s a training technique that most serious runners are very familiar with.
fartlek (\ ˈfärtˌlek\ ) from Swedish, from fart speed, pace (from Middle Low German vart journey, pace, alteration of Old Saxon fard; akin to Old English fierd, fyrd military expedition, campaign) + lek play, game, from Old Norse leikr
“Fartlek”, or speed play, describes interval training in which a runner alternates periods of sprinting with periods of jogging. You can base fartleks on time or distance. (Thank you, Merriam-Webster.)
So, next time you hear fartlek, think of a surge workout, not that other thing.
We’ve got our district championship meet today! Wish us luck. Hopefully, all of those fartleks will pay off!
If you like to learn new words and the origins of their meanings, visit the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme at Bermuda Onion. Each Wednesday, bloggers share new words they’ve learned.
Did you know what fartlek means? Do you have a funny term from sports or training to share?
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Hilarious! Good luck to your team!
Thank you!
What a great word, that I didn’t know 🙂
My son and daughter in law run fartleks a few times a week and my other son is planing going with them from now on.
Good luck on your district championship meet!
It’s a fun way to work out… Thank you!
You know I’m all into this kind of talk 🙂 Thanks for the explanation – I’ve never actually taken the time to find out the origin of this strange word. ALSO – GOOD LUCK TODAY AT DISTRICTS!!!! Please let me know how it goes.
I thought YOU would know it! We did well at districts – HS girls and MS boys won; HS boys and MS girls came in second. It was a miserable meet- cold, rainy, muddy. Now, on to the region meet next Wednesday and hopefully we’ll have both teams qualify for state!
I’m a runner and actually run fartleks from time to time because I want to be faster than I am. It is a fun word to use because it almost always gets a reaction.
Indeed! Yes, I use fartleks to improve my speed too!