Don’t giggle: Fartlek means “speed play” in Swedish.

Let me explain and how you can take advantage of it during perimenopause, menopause and post menopause.

These are unstructured intervals based on feel, not time or distance. On trails, the terrain does the programming for you.

The workout:

Warm up 10 minutes easy. Find your trail legs.

Then 20–25 minutes of landmark-based effort changes. Pick a tree, rock, hill crest, or bend ahead of you. Push hard to it: 7–8/10 effort. Recover easy until your breathing normalizes. Pick the next landmark. Repeat.

Uphills are your hard efforts. Flats and downhills are your recovery. Every trail gives you a landmark every 30–90 seconds.

Cool down 10 minutes easy back to the trailhead.

Why this works for midlife women specifically: fartlek delivers the cardiovascular stimulus of structured HIIT without the rigid intensity demands that spike cortisol in an already dysregulated hormonal environment. You work hard when the terrain calls for it. You recover fully before the next push. The session stays responsive to how your body feels that day and that adaptability matters in perimenopause.

At the same time, you’ll improve your VO2 max.

I created fully progressive strength and endurance training plans. A new training week coming out every Sunday.

Feel free to join 💕