Hey everyone, I did my first fartlek yesterday as one of the Nike Guided Runs. The thing is that the coach was saying to do my efforts at 5k pace, and the recovery at recovery pace. I’ve never done a ‘fast’ race-like 5k since I’ve just started running so my ‘5k’ pace felt quite low and the transition to recovery pace wasn’t a big transition at all. For reference, I was running recovery at roughy 6:45 / km and the efforts at 6:15. Should I run my efforts faster and my recovery slower?
5k pace will feel like “I really want to stop now, but I can keep going if I push myself” then recovery will feel like something of a relief. Recovery pace may not be much faster than walking (try not to walk, but if you have to walk after a hard burst don’t feel bad about it). But most important for now is to get a feel for running at different speeds and intensities. Don’t kill yourself, but don’t be afraid to run pretty hard for a little bit.