The NRC 'How Fartlek Can You Go' Run (26 minutes)

[Instructor57]

So it's been a while since I did a Fartlek run and since I have started regular runs again I have wanted to get back into the habit of mixing them up ! We know that works with overall fitness !

My VO2 Max suffered when I was leaving big gaps between my runs and then just running 5k's

this is something I wanted to recover before picking up the distances again .

I found a Fartlek run on the NRC APP so thought I would give it a go , it's just a 26 minute session so decided to try it out .

The run gets you running at various paces throughout the session and then settling back to a recovery pace in between , of course the faster the pace then the shorter the segment.

It's good fun albeit a little confusing at first .

It basically uses 4 paces

1 Recovery pace, 2. 10K pace, 3, 5K pace and 4, celebration pace (fastest)

It's tricky at first to know if your paces are right or not as the segments are quite short so not much time to settle in .

It was also quite breezy this morning so that didn't help.

I enjoyed the run and at times it was tough .

The only disappointment for me was my VO2 MAX remained the same but fitness age improved by 1 year !

Ahh well, here's to the next run 😁

[Jools2020 Graduate10]

Well done, Ian! I would definitely struggle with those different paces, but it does sound fun. More structured than when I’ve tried to run Fartleks with just 2 different paces: running faster and slow jog 😊. I’ll have to look at that guided run.

Fastest pace 5:36, though!! Excellent.

Keep at it with mixing up the runs and I’m sure Garmin will give up in the end and will reward you by improving your scores 🤞😊

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

Thanks Julia , and yes, it's more structured then I'm used to when doing Fartkeks.Infact I rather like the less structured approach to be honest , but, it was something different !

And I'm sure Garmin will approve eventually 😁

[nowster Graduate10]

The watch seems to average over several runs. And the internal value of VO₂Max seems not to be a whole number, and is rounded down for display. The fitness age is based on that internal number.

PS. After some investigation... this is indeed the case. Encoded in the data sent from the watch is a single number which is approximately a multiple of 0.00005 VO₂Max units.

My run yesterday had this number being 787132, which after decoding (multiply by 3.5 and divide by 65536) yields 42.04. My intervals run in Thursday decodes as 42.30 and my Jeffing run on Tuesday decodes as 42.44. Interesting!

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

Yes, I thought it was averaged over a number of runs .Thank you for your explanation.

You say your run yesterday gave a number of 787132 ?

Where can you see this number ?

And why multiply by 3.5 and divide by 65536 ?

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

It's because the watch will have a relatively simple processor internally and it will work in whole numbers.

There's a decoder written in Java here: github.com/bleenhou/fitpars...

You point it at a bunch of .FIT files copied out of the ACTIVITY folder on the watch and it generates a set of graphs, then launches the web browser to display them.

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

I'll take your word for it 😂P.S

This has reminded me to ask ! Are you using a script for Strava kudos ? 😁

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

No script. I have my phone set to notify me when someone I'm following has uploaded an activity.

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

Ahh ok , 😁👍

[Beatlesforever Graduate10]

Wow, very well done! I would've been confused too, I still don't know what my 5k v 10k pace is 🤷‍♀️ but you enjoyed it and you've improved your fitness age yay! 😃💪👏👏👏

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to Beatlesforever]

Thanks ! And all I know is that my 10k pace is Slooooow .. 😂

[Birdlady64 Graduate10]

Well done Ian. It's good to mix it up a bit as we know. Mr Garmin is still fickle though.

A nice pace too - fastest starting with a 5!!!! 👏👏👏

I tried a similar NRC run but it was set intervals rather than fartleks. I must admit I struggled with getting the right pacing, and as you say it's not really long enough for each segment.

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to Birdlady64]

Thank you Diane , oh believe me the fastest interval was only a short one . But repeated 3x times if I remember correctly.I might try another Zombie run next 😁

[9weeks2Run Graduate10]

Well done Ian, great to mix it up.

Glad your fitness age improved.

Take care x

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to 9weeks2Run]

Thanks Rebecca, it's good to do something different so I don't get bored 😁Hope you are well ?

[9weeks2Run Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

That great.

I am good thanks. Completed my second run of week two today, which was all good. Went for a lovely walk in the park afterwards but overdid it with the walking and feeling very fatigued now !

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to 9weeks2Run]

Oh it's great you did your second run 👍Just be carefull not to over do it !

Take care x

[9weeks2Run Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

Thank you Ian, run 3 today!Enjoy your next run

Take care x

[58soon Graduate10]

Definitely going to try that one. I’ve been looking for guided runs under 30mins. Thanks for the suggestion I57! 😀

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to 58soon]

I think there a few around 30 mins on the NRC App 👍

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to 58soon]

Just seen a 30 (well, 31) minute intervals run on there

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10]

This came up on my feed as I've just run this today Instructor57 . It isn't any easier in the 2 years since you did it and you got away lightly, my VO2 went down a point and I got 3 years older 😂😂😂

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

I remember it well , and I'm at least 2 years older now 🤣