Girlwithnoname - Fitness at Home » endurance running

Fartlek – No, It’s NOT a Dirty Word

Girlwithnoname — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:00:26 +0000

Fartlek.

I KNOW, I KNOW!!

It sounds like a dirty word, doesn’t it? LOL

Well, I hate to ruin your fun, but it’s actually a Swedish word that means “Speed Play“. And it’s an effective way of increasing your running speed or improving your endurance.

Fartlek is a form of interval training but with some differences.

The basic concept of interval training is to do short bursts of fast running alternating with slower bouts of mild jogging or “recovery” intervals. The thing that makes Fartlek different than conventional interval training is that there is no set format for times or distances of the intervals, it is completely unstructured.

Another difference is that Fartlek is intended for road, path or trail “distance” running (as opposed to going back and forth over the same part of a path over and over, as is the case in most forms of interval training).

Fartlek training is a great way to increase both your aerobic and anaerobic capabilities as well as your lactic thresholds. And, it’s a very flexible way of incorporating interval training into distance running.

However, Fartlek is mostly intended for advanced runners.

In Fartlek training, the runner increases or decreases their running speed for short amounts of time. However, determining when they should increase or decrease speeds is decided solely by the runner themselves, in the moment.

This allows the runner to be more in touch with their own feelings and responses to the harder intervals and decide for themselves when it is time to take a slower interval. The runner is also in charge of when they’ve had enough ‘recovery’ and should start a harder, fast run interval again.

Fartlek is intended mostly for advanced runners because as mentioned, there is no set format to follow so this requires total honesty and committment by the runner to ensure they’re actually getting a hard workout.

There’s no timer telling the runner to go fast or slow … no coach or specified distance that determines the speed changes, only the runner determines it for themselves as they go.

Another interesting thing about Fartlek is that it allows for more experimentation than traditional timed intervals. The runner can change their pace whenever they feel like it, which allows for much more freedom with trying intervals of varying lengths and speeds.

But just because Fartlek is designed for advanced runners doesn’t mean that the average runner can’t take advantage of this technique.

An average runner can incorporate Fartlek into their routines by choosing random items along their path as ‘goal-posts’ where they promise themselves they will change their pace.

The runner might choose a tree that’s up in the distance or a bend in the road, or another jogger up ahead and tell themselves “When I reach that marker, I will increase my pace until I hit that next marker, then I can go slow again“, and continue choosing markers along their path as they go (this eliminates the need for the “total honesty” that advanced runners must have when they’re doing Fartlek without markers).

As well, average runners can use this technique to become more in touch with themselves as a runner.

Because it allows for so much experimentation, doing Fartlek can help less advanced runners become aware of things like how long it takes their breathing to become more difficult at faster paces, or how much faster their pace needs to be in order to get a harder cardiovascular workout.

The runner can also experiment and learn things like how wide their stride is at certain paces as well as other physical changes that occur at different speeds, lengths of intervals, etc.

This new-found knowledge can then help them become more advanced runners.

Fartlek training is a fun and easy way to incorporate interval training into your running routines as well as getting you a harder and more beneficial workout on your regular long endurance runs.

I do it all the time and always have a great time pushing myself and testing my limits to see how much faster, stronger and better I can be from one session to the next.

So get out there and start testing yourself, too!

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

7693

Yes, I Am Working Out!

Girlwithnoname — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:56:12 +0000

Hey everyone. Guess what? I’m still working out!! LOL. Just joking, I know you all know I’m still working out. However, that computer trauma we all thought would be done with by the time HP did the right thing and sent me a new computer? Nope, not over yet. I don’t even want to try to describe for you what’s going on NOW (with the BRAND NEW TOP OF THE LINE UNIT) so you really must watch the vid to hear the latest. HP, SHAME ON YOU. This is beyond ridiculous.

I also wrap up about my Summer workouts and what I really must concentrate on with my workouts now that the Summer heat is over. I also really have to watch myself when it comes to distractions working out at home (as must you if you work out at home like I do).

Watch here for details:

(oh, and note to self: the lighting is different at night!!) LOL. Sorry for the dark lighting, I stood where I always stand just because it’s habit (and the lighting is the best there… DURING THE DAY! duh!!) … when I record video at night in the future I’ll try to remember that and find better lighting. Bear with me on this one please!!

Oh, also have you noticed? I’ve figured out how to add fade outs and titles to my videos!! Gee, how long have I been video blogging now? Too long to admit, given I only learned how to do this last week!!

HAHA!! See? Proves how bloody busy I am on a daily basis right? I can’t even find the time to learn something THIS basic!! OMG!!

But anyway, here’s my chance to point out the neat little title at the end of the video that promotes the cool new review that I wrote over on my FlabLabs site.

So go check out an awesome product and what I have to say about it here:

Girlwithnoname’s Review of Rob Poulos’ Fat Burning Furnace

… And as usual, I’m getting all smartypants with my Workout Song of the Day… don’t you think by now HP should be feeling just a little bit of Shame about what they’ve been putting me through? Well, here ya go HP, a song dedicated just to you. Shame on you!!

Besides being a good song to dedicate to HP and the Shame they should be feeling, the song is GREAT for weight training… all sorts of angsty emotion in this one. Give it a go, it will crank you up hard!!

STABBING WESTWARD – Shame

Don’t forget, if you love it and want it for your own collection, all you have to do it click on the “Buy” button on the player widget and you’ll be whisked over to Amazon where you can grab it for yourself.

That’s it for today everyone!! Hope your week has been fabulous so far. Weekend coming up!! Woo Hoo!! For anyone in Canada, LONG weekend coming up! It’s our Thanksgiving!!

mmm… turkey!!

So if you’re having Thanksgiving like I am, ENJOY … but be careful with the whole overindulgence thing… if you must, make sure you schedule it as your ONE cheat meal this week (otherwise known as “metabolism jack-up day”) and go for it, otherwise BEHAVE YOURSELF at the table, do you hear?!?

Have a great fit and fun day!! See you soon!
Girlwithnoname

Hump Day is Weights Day

Girlwithnoname — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:03:02 +0000

Hey everyone!! Happy Hump Day (and no… sadly, its not what it sounds like! HAHAHAAAA!!!…all it really means to me is that today was the day to sweat it out over my weight stack…alas).

Hope you are all having a fabulous Wednesday. Mine’s been rocking so far!! Very excited about many fun things coming up! But I digress…

Yesterday I did an endurance run with hills (yes, on those hills I showed you in the last video “Walking Tour of my Cardio Path“), and man, I tell ya, that one staircase in the middle of my run never fails to beat the living daylights out of me.

Today I did Day 2 of my new weightlifting program. I love it. I’ve got Muscle Pump today and am feeling hopeful for a case of DOMS tomorrow!! haha!!

Check it out!

And for you guys that are seeing me via RSS I have to apologize profusely, but my song of the day widget does not seem to be translating into my RSS feed properly, so if you want to hear the song of the day today … or any day for the foreseeable future (cuz technically, things progress slowly in my world), please come over to my blog to see my very cool widget (I promise its cool, but you have to come over to see it! ha!)…and on that note, if anyone out there knows how to fix this, I’m all over getting a helping hand from you… please comment or email me at the address in my contact section [see tabs above] and we can connect on Skype or something… and THANKS in advance for THAT!!!)

But anyway, here’s today’s Workout Song of the Day!!

ANTI-FLAG – The Press Corpse (another angst filled song that is totally great for Weight Training)

Also, please don’t forget to sign up for my Inner Circle Newsletter… I found a great article yesterday that I’m not planning to put on the blog, its JUST for my Inner Circle Loyals, so if you wanna see it, ya gotta sign up!! Its coming out later this evening.

Finally, here is a ROCKING article I’ve been tweeting about all day today… its an absolute MUST READ for ANYONE interested in stepping up their game in regards to good nutrition or fat loss. SERIOUSLY!! Tom Venuto fills us in on The Top Ten Weight Loss Foods That Help You Get Six Pack Abs. You guys know how I feel about Tom Venuto. Besides being a God in the Fitness Industry, he’s one of the guys responsible for my own journey to ripped!! Give it a read. You will be glad you did. I am.

oh, and PS, if you want to get Tom’s book (which you guys know I LOOOVE), click here Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, or click on the Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle book over on the sidebar.

Over ‘n out!! See you again very soon!!
xo to all!

Walking Tour of my Cardio Path

Girlwithnoname — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:42:22 +0000

Hey everyone!! Here we are…lovely Sunday. It was supposed to be my day off working out today but I felt guilty and restless so decided to have some ‘active rest’ and go for a walk on the always-mentioned seawall, the path where I do the majority of my cardio work (including endurance running with and without hills, HIIT like hillsprints or my love-to-hate it :30/:30 sprint/walks. Hopefully you’ll get a better idea of where I am in the future when I talk about heading to the seawall to get a run or other cardio under my belt for the day, and the size of the hills I’m running when I’m talking about hillsprints and endurance running with hills. Mostly its just for fun, to share with you guys… and see if I can get Tourism Vancouver to give me some kickbacks!! HAHAHA

(sorry in advance for any wind noise that makes it hard to hear me…)

Enjoy!

and here’s today’s Workout Song of the Day:

ACID HORSE – No Name No Slogan (one of the greatest songs for Cardio, the driving beat drives me forward at alarming paces!!!)

…and don’t forget to sign up for my Inner Circle mailing list if you haven’t already. Its just for you guys who are my ‘loyal’ viewers… special, interesting stuff as I find it. The form to enter your info is over there on the sidebar to your right!!! cheers!!!

Recovery is Different for Different Workouts

Girlwithnoname — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:22:27 +0000

Hey you guys… its a beautiful Thursday in Vancouver today. Wow!! Absolutely stunning!! I did cardio today again, even though I did it yesterday. Two days in a row of cardio. Did I get enough recovery time? Yes. You only need one day of recovery for most cardio workouts, but you do need a day of rest between weight lifting workouts (unless you are working completely different muscle groups). So no problem doing cardio two days in a row, but because most of my weight lifting routines work my full body (every muscle group), its not very often you’ll catch me doing a weight lifting routine two days in a row. Recovery IS IMPORTANT.. probably AS important as the workout itself.

Also, another appeal for you guys who signed up to my old mailing list and probably never received a darn thing!! You guys: Please sign up again, I’m using a more reliable service now and would hate for you to be left out inadvertently. If you haven’t signed up at all yet, please do so!! I talk about my plans for the list in the video.

…and continuing with my NEW FEATURE!!!! Today we have a special WARNING: So please take heed and DO NOT PLAY THIS SONG AT WORK OR AROUND CHILDREN… EXTREMELY explicit lyrics alert!!!!!)

Workout Song of the Day – PENNYWISE – F*&k Authority (yes, its got lots of swearing but WOW, its maybe the best song out there for Weight Training… absolutely CHOCK FULL of angst!! LOVE IT!!!)

Love it as much as I do? BUY IT!! LOL!!! add it to your collection and lets work out!!!

Checking In

Girlwithnoname — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:17:03 +0000

Hey everyone. Nothing wildly topical today… just catching up with you cuz its been waaaay too long!!

Have a great week, be back asap!!

Renegade Rows

Girlwithnoname — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:22:50 +0000

Hey everyone! I’ve been working out all day!!! First, I did a little fasted cardio after I woke up (which I discuss), then moved on to a home workout (my gym buddy couldn’t meet up today, so I stuck with my regular home workout program of FullBody Compound Move SuperCircuits). As I worked out I analyzed each of my moves and decided that Renegade Rows are one of my very favourite moves, so decided to share and demo this move for you today! Enjoy!

Get Mike Geary’s Truth About Abs book here!!!

Finally Caught Up! … sorta…

Girlwithnoname — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:20:45 +0000

Finally seem to be catching up on life. Here’s my last video from the week following my trip. Detraining seems to be the word of the day and I’m suffering from not working out much over the past couple of weeks… but am now back to working out, sick or not, in the hopes that it scares the remainder of this illness out of me. Seriously! Enough is enough!

After this, I kind of disappear for several days, just got buried in work and other stuff including still recovering from this godforsaken illness… but I’m better now, as of today. So next video will be several days later but will get us back into the present!! I’ll post that tomorrow! And then officially we’re all caught up.

cheers!