Forums >General Running>How much Interval Variation?
do you have 1 or 2 set interval workouts or do you have a bunch?
400s?
1000s?
200s?
ladders?
Also maybe it depends on the workout, but should all intervals be near VO2 Max? or simply 5k race/goal pace?
I suppose time will tell.
300m- 37 sec.
It all depends on where you are in your training and what you're trying to accomplish, but I've gone entire summers doing only 300s and 1000s, and I'm probably going to do the same this summer.. If and when I'm ready to get ready to race I'll do some other things but 300s and 1000s will turn me back into a runner. They've done it before so I believe they can do it again. The 300s are at 3k to 5k pace and the 1000s are a little slower than 10k pace. And by pace I mean effort. So like 10 x 300 with 100 jog recovery or 6 x 1000 with 200 jog recovery.
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That's a lot of 300s, or a lot of 1000s. I think that wold exhaust me, Mike. Do you work your way up to that many?
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Naw I just go by effort. If the effort is right it's not too many. 10 x 300 is less than 2 miles of work and 6 x 1000 is less than 4 miles of work.
Feeling the growl again
It has been awhile since I recycled this one....seems like a different person typing....particularly with relation to the training paces referenced...
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
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SMART Approach
When working with runners, I like a weekly cycle of 3 different type of work outs which keep people racing fit any time of year. Of course this is tweaked depending on athlete and goal race. Sometimes 2 work outs are given per week. I also like quality work n long run depending on event being trained for.
8-12 x 1 min - fast 1 mile pace effort pace. Full recovery jog between
6 x 800m or 6 x 1k or 4 x 5 mim 7 x 3 min at 10k effort at critical velocity pace 120-75 sec recoveries depending on how fit or close to race
4 x 1 mile at hard tempo effort or 30 sec slower than 5k pace. 90-120 sec recovery jogs
As Mikey states. i recommend focusing on effort vs exact pace because one can never simulate exact race paces in training compared to race days
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Pace Prophet
One of the things I like about our running club track workouts is that they force variation on me, because it's so easy to fall back on doing the same stuff over and over again.
The pace should be appropriate for the interval distance and number of repetitions such that you can complete all of them at roughly the same pace and be pleasantly tired (but not exhausted nor full of energy) at the end.
I really like multi-pace workouts (as does Brad Hudson, in his book Run Faster). But in general short-fast intervals are appropriate for earlier in your training cycle and for shorter goal races.
Certified Running Coach
I believe in the book "Running with Lydiard" they discuss just such this topic. There is room for improvement when doing the same style of interval work repeatedly but eventually you make gains in your workout that don't translate to race day performance. As your body becomes more efficient at that particular style of workout. I think you could probably get away with working on a singular training component/style of interval work during a training block but as you continue to do so for longer the training stimulus would be less and less over time thus decreasing its effectiveness. I personally prefer workouts that slowly build on themselves, You can take a single workout and manipulate it in so many way to address different factors, which would be a more efficient use of your training time.
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