The Workout of the Week (or as we like to call it, the WoW) is an ongoing feature from pro athlete Lauren Fleshman. If you missed the last few workouts or want to stay informed of the new ones, bookmark The Weekly Workout page. This will be updated every Wednesday.
What is it: A continuous 20 minute fartlek run performed by alternating between an “on” pace which is on the speedy side, and an “off” pace which is the pace of your typical easy run. There are no stop breaks.
What to do:
2 mile easy warmup jog
2 x (90sec on, 90 sec off)
4 x (60 sec on, 60 sec off)
4 x (30 sec on, 30 sec off)
4 x (15 sec on, 15 sec off)
1-2 mile easy cooldown jog
This is one of my all-time favorite workouts. You can do it anywhere, flat path, rolling hills, depending on what you want out of it, and it makes you FAST. The hard part is only 20 minutes long, and you feel like you really accomplished something when you’re done. And, well, you have!
Why it’s awesome: Running quicker paces requires you to adopt your most efficient and powerful stride, which is good practice for long distance runners who tend to get sloppy and weak running long miles all the time. It’s good for the body to work at different arcs and speeds. This is the most fun workout I’ve done that helps you practice running quicker paces while training your body to recover actively in a short period of time.
When doing a #Moneghetti think of yourself like a race car with four gears. Every time the intervals get shorter in time, you go up a gear. The 90 second intervals are like 5k pace (controlled), the 60 seconds a little quicker, the 30 seconds a little quicker still, and the 15 seconds you’re poppin’ it!
Variations: Try it on hilly terrain. Ouch, baby. Very ouch.
*The namesake: The workout was made famous by Aussie Steve Moneghetti, Bronze Medalist at the World Champs Marathon in 1997 among other hardware. Athletes around the world who race 1500 meters up to the marathon do the #Moneghetti to build endurance and develop speed at the same time. Knowing what a Moneghetti is pretty much makes you a hard core running fan, so that just happened.
Have fun getting speedy and tag #Moneghetti to let us know how it went!