Intervals, or whatever you want to call them (Read 898 times)

If you don't have a garmin or a track near by, then doing them by time is a good way to go. Someone around here sometimes recommends doing hard/easy reps by time. Like 3 mins hard / 3 mins easy or 5 mins hard / 5 mins easy. From what I've read, longer intervals (1/2 mile and up) are better for marathon training than shorter intevals like 200m or 400m. The training plans that I've used for marathons prescribe running the intervals at 5K pace. Sounds like you are on the right track. Maybe push the hard part out to the 3 to 5 minute length instead of 1-2 minutes.

For long distance training I like to keep the rest short compared to the work. My two favorite time based workouts are: 8 x 2 minutes on / 1 minute off and 3 x 8 minutes on / 3 minutes off. The 8 x 2 workout I do at ~ 10k pace and the 3 x 8 workout I do at tempo pace which is somewere between 15k and half marathon pace. Both of those are pretty hard workouts and I would't do them if I was taking a down week. Strides are different from intervals in that they are very short but fast bursts. 8 x 20 seconds with 45 second jogs is good. Strides can be done once or twice a week or more even in an easy week. They are not a workout and don't really take much out of you. Mostly they help with form and turnover. I also think they help keep your legs loose.

This is exactly what I needed. Short synopsis is I probably need to slow them down a little so that I can extend them further (that and just get a little better trained). All of you seem to agree on that. Mike, the 3x8 workout initially sounded like it would kill me, but at 10K to 1/2 marathon pace I'm sure its do-able. It's probably good practice in trying to find that pace anyway. Thanks all for the help.

Great advice and really like MikeyMikes. To simplify things you can do the 3X8min work out at 15K pace or just do 3 working up to 5 X 1 mile at hard tempo or around 15K pace and finish work out with 4-8 X 100M quick striders with full recovery. This is a great mid week work out with some miles before it and some miles after it to make it a mid week longer run with quality. Excellent work out! As marathon get closers, start doing a bit more race specific work or longer tempos at goal pace followed by the striders.

I don't know how far 200 or 400 or 800 meters is.

FYI. 1 mile = 1609.34 meters.

Do you have access to a treadmill? That's where I do my interval workouts, and they're tough, but very fun. I warm up, then do 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, 5-6 repetitions.Within a workout, my "hard" intervals get progressively harder: the first burst I do at around 7.5mph, then "easy" involves either a fast walk (4mph) or a slow jog (5mph). Second burst is 8mph, then I do a few at 8.5, peak at 9 or 9.5, and then come back down, usually doing the last "hard" burst at 7.5 or 8 again, and ending with an easy jog to cool down. Usually ends up being a 30-40 minute workout, ranging from 3-4 miles. It's a lot less time consuming than an easy training run or long run, obviously, but it wears me out a lot more. Towards the 3rd or 4th "hard" interval you start feeling it in your chest a minute or so into the "hard" bursts. You're putting your anaerobic system (does not rely on oxygen) to work as opposed to your aerobic which you use primarily in a paced training run. I would not recommend doing this workout without a solid base, because if your muscles aren't ready to support this type of stress, you're in for immediate injury. Also start with speeds that work for you, and remember that though the first "hard" burst may not feel very "hard" at first, once you are on your 3rd repetition you will be feeling it. Warm up is very very important, and it is also important to keep your heart rate up on your "easy" intervals by continuing to walk/jog-- never just stop. Also, hydration-- I get off the treadmill as if I've just gotten out of a swimming pool after this workout. I try to drink during all my "easy" jogs, but not too much. Also, don't fall off the treadmilll I enjoy this workout very much because it keeps things interesting and I jam to my trance music. Usually when I'm training (I only do half-marathons right now) I do this workout twice a week, and I consider it a hard workout, so I try to cushion them between days of easy workouts. have fun!

My question is how to do them. I don't have a track available, and I suck at the metric system. I don't know how far 200 or 400 or 800 meters is.

Most runners consider 4 laps to be a mile. Its not exact since a mile is 1609 meters rather than 1600 meters, but, for the purpose of simplicity: 200m = 1/2 lap around the track = 1/8 mile = 0.125 mile 400m = 1 lap around the track = 1/4 mile = 0.25 mile 600m = 1.5 laps around the track = 3/8 mile = 0.375 mile 800m = 2 laps around the track = 1/2 mile = 0.5 mile 1000m = 2.5 laps around the track = 5/8 mile = 0.625 mile 1200m = 3 laps around the track = 3/4 mile = 0.75 mile 1600m = 4 laps around the track = 1 mile The extra 9 meters is about the same as running for a 1st down in football.