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@gbj_tester
Yes, as unpleasant as they can be, this really is the answer.
At the middle markers level, you can stave off some of the boredom by mixing them up. Fartlek means speed play, so you can mess about with the intensity during a session as long as you include a mix of short (5-40 second) anaerobic efforts and longer (1-4 minute) aerobic ones. Some people will suggest 20 minute intervals, but to me they seem so close to race pace that they are more about pacing, testing and acclimatisation than an attempt to get faster. Interval sessions are like opinions - everybody has one, and they all think theirs are right. Starting from 30 minute 10 level, almost any session should generate improvement. If you start looking to get under 20 minutes, you probably need to get scientific about measuring the effect of different blocks of different sessions.