Intervals (Read 1205 times)

Try Mcmillianrunning's website. There is a running calculator where you can imput a recent race time and it will suggest some paces for different interval distances.

Spaniel: I always enjoy your posts; however, all due respect, I think what you have prescribed, though ALL legit, might be a bit too much to chew--I'm not talking about the speed and all the numbers you mentioned, of course, but the idea of doing intervals with such short recovery, etc.--for someone like Sockoni (do you wear Saucony shoes? ;o)). She seems to run quite a bit and I'm quite impressed with what she so far has done. However, I would strongly recommend to someone like her to start introducing some form of hill exercises to strengthen her legs first. Otherwise, same old story, she might go out and do the "fast" part at 11-minute-mile pace, especially she takes such a short recovery, and run through the recovery "jog" at 13-minute pace. One development should follow the next; she has been working on her aeoribc capacity and, before she start working on "speed" or faster paced running; in other words, start pushing her threshold upward, she should strengthen her legs, knee lift, ankle flexibility, strong arm swing (so she won't start swinging her arms sideway when tired) and just a little bit of heavy breathing. For that, I would recommend to find a hill, steep enough that going up, even slowly, is a work! You'd want it at least about 100~150m, 200 would be good. Start running up, on your toes, work on your ankles (plyometrics), with good knee lift--if you can, bring your thighs almost parallel to the ground (the flat ground, that is... ;o))--your back straight, in other words, don't hunch back and look down... Good straight arm swing (not that you don't bend your arms; what I mean is to swing your arms back and forth straight, not side way)... Your forward momemtum should be rather slow with a short steps (about a foot or two). This is because this is intended to be a resistance workout; if you run up too fast and get out-of-breath at the top, the workout is too highly anaerobic that you may have to end the workout prematurely. If you do get out-of-breath at the top, maybe the hill is too long or too steep; you should alter it so you can do this exercises for at least about 15 minutes at first (including jogging down the hill). So you first do a warm-up jog of about 15-minutes, do 15 minutes of hill exercise on the first day, 15-minute cool-down. And see how your legs feel the next day. If you handled it easily; maybe the next week or 2~3 days later, do 20 minutes. Then 30 minutes... If you can't find a good hill near-by, a good alternative to hill exercise would be a step running. Jog down to a local high school track. There should be steps along the seat. Go up and down the steps or the seats. This would not be as long, but this is a great workout to strengthen your legs. Same thing; repeat for about 15 minutes up and down and see how your legs feel. If you can handle it more, do 20 minutes; then 30... Do this once or twice a week for 3 to 4 weeks. This would do you wonder. After a month or so of this, you'll be ready to do some fast running. There are many runners who can get away with not doing this; but I believe far too many beginners jump to doing fast running when their legs are not ready and end up injuring themselves.

Thanks for the replies everyone! Appreciate it! Racon2r, the calculator also verified for me that I'm on track as far as my easy and long runs. I just do what's comfortable; what do you know! spaniel, I'll remember if I'm diing at the end I'm going too fast...but then that leads to how much should I be doing? Until I feel like I can't anymore? You said your last interval was difficult...so just until you can squeak the last one out maybe? Nobby415, you struck it home with me I think. I know I need to strengthen my legs. They've come a long way, but I do think they need some work still. I'm going to take your advice as well and try to focus on strength and see what happens. Did a hill (well, for around town here) workout tonight and will incorporate them into the week now! Scout, thanks for the clarification on the striders. Goal? I would love to get to the point where my easy pace is about a 11, 10 minute mile. I'd LOVE to head out and do more long runs (lots more) and know I won't be taking up such a chunk of the day. I know you meant race-wise, but I haven't really been focusing on race times. Maybe I should?

most of the training schedules available, particularly on-line, are mainly written by a good runner or a former elite runner. A lot of them are simply watered-down version of their own training. .

This is what really gets me sometime. A 36 year old couch potato carrying a few extra pounds is not a mini elite. You can't just do X% across the board of what an experienced runner does. I think often that is the difference between good coaches and bad coaches. I've seen coaches who have just always been good runners giving beginners what is basically a watered down version of their own workout. Joni - FWIW on the rare occasions I do intervals I try to pay attention to my effort, not pace..I'm not there yet to pick a pace. I try to hold a constant pace the entire interval or perhaps a bit faster to the end. To me it always should feel 1st 1/4 (of whatever length I am doing): Smooth, fast, easy, I think I went out too slow 2nd 1/4 : smooth but it is starting to feel a little bit like work 3rd 1/4: by the end of the 3rd quarter I know if I have hit the right pace. Good is where I can maintain the pace but I am sure glad I am not doing longer intervals. 4th 1/4: Finish strong but definitely glad to be done. It usually takes me a couple attempts to find the sweet spot between too easy and too hard. At this point I make my recovery a slow jog that is 1/2 the distance of the interval which usually works out to be somewhere around 75% of the interval time. I like hills better though. Hills work better for me.

You could try this simple exercise. Find a football yard that is not too big and split it into 4 pieces with lines. Exercise 1. Run fast to the first line and do 10 push ups 2. Run back slowley and do 10 crunches and so on... There is no must to do 10 push ups, u could do 5 or 20 depends on your strength.

What's the point of mixing in pushups/crunches, etc. in with your interval workouts? I've always just focused on the running and rest interval during intervals and never thrown in other types of workouts or drills into the mix - it detracts from the intention of the workout, IMO.

It will make your training more effective, do you remember when you was a newbie to running and felt heavy pain in the arms, legs, stomach? Now that your used to running you dont feel that much pain anymore. By addin these exercises you increase the effectness of the intervall, thats my beliefs.

I just focus on those types of exercises seperately when I'm not doing intervals. There's a time and a place for everything. Core work, IMO, should not be mixed with interval work. It's one thing to mix core work with drills, but a pure interval workout should be just that - pure intervals and rest intervals.

I've been revisiting the experience of the original joggers started in New Zealand back in 1961. They didn't have heart rate monitor; they didn't have garmin; they didn't have any high-tech equipment like Dri-Fit or Lycra or Shox. No GU or energy drink/gel; no waist water belt.

LOL! I think this was even a lot of us back in the late 80's/ early 90's! No tech anything & you drove your car (if you could) to find the mileage!

I think when I first joined RunningAhead message board, I shared this story about an old lady trying to ski. So she joined a ski school with a young instructor. He said, "Okay, when you try to turn, just straighten your legs slightly before you bring your weight down...(now that I ski, I still can't quite figure out what this exactly mean, thouh...)" She never quite made it. So she got to think... If it's a simple "straighten your knees" for a young male instructor, perhaps it's "jumping straight up in the air" for an old lady like herself. So on her next try, she tried to jump up as hard as she could... Viola; she made the turn and the instructor, watching her turn, said; "There you go! Just like that; gently straighten your knees..." Actually, it's not even a matter of how old you are; but more so a matter of where you are in terms of development. Somebody else started a thread about "over-load of information" here; most of the training schedules available, particularly on-line, are mainly written by a good runner or a former elite runner. A lot of them are simply watered-down version of their own training.

Funny example! I think a lot of times it's hard to know/ remember to consider the other person's perspective.

I know most people just can't wait. They start running 3 months ago and now they want to run a marathon; simply because "Well, everybody else is running a marathon...!" They start running 4 weeks earlier and now they want to experiment "speed training"; simply because "Well, I read that on the message board..." In most cases, hate to say but, it's all so premature.

Very true. One thing that running this time around has taught me that it didn't before is patience with a capital P.