Forums >Racing>Interval purposes (side topic from pg3 of "other than experience" thread)
1. And, to add, I know a fellow who could run 20x400 @ 60 sec. Really. He had speed. And on 100 rec. jog. Not kidding. Described the workout as "dull." Ran a good 800 to mile, but lacked endurance. Found out that a certain local olympian was running 800m to 2000m repeats, on longer, but faster recoveries. Tried that plan. Struggled with 2:20 for 800's on less than 800m jogging rec. Saw the problem right away. Worked on it. Ran 800m repeats, got down to 2:15 to 2:16 range, on 200m rec. jogs, and took his marathon from 2:26 to 2:14(and change.) Took about 3 years of periodized specific work on this weakness. 10k time came way down in the same period, too. KNow your weakness, and train to it.
Why is it sideways?
Honestly I think most of these types of workouts are simply to add variety and fun, they all serve the same general purposes and I'm not sure you could prove one is better than the other. But when you are busting your butt on a weekly basis with them, it sure is nice to have some variety.
This is the only one of the three types where your recovery will be shorter than your intervals. For example, I run 800m intervals in 2:22-2:30 avg depending on conditioning but only jog recover 90sec.
From the road, courtesy of a former Olympian - 10minHARD/5minEASY/8minHARD/4minEASY/6minHARD/3minEASY/4minHARD/2minEASY/2minHARD HARD pace is faster than 4-mile tempo pace. The interesting part is EASY is not really easy, but a solid moderate effort. For example, when I was in shape to run marathons around 5:35-5:40 pace the HARD pace in this workout was 5:00-5:10 and the EASY pace 5:55-6:05. This is a challenging workout, as the very first 10min is a good effort and after the 8min stretch you are already pretty tired but still have half the workout to go. Only the diminishing time-at-effort saves you, and by the end that 2minHARD feels like it takes 10min! Edited to add: The main purpose of this workout is essentially speed tolerance -- the ability to hold a very challenging pace for extended time. After this workout, everything a few days later just seems easier... Honestly I think most of these types of workouts are simply to add variety and fun, they all serve the same general purposes and I'm not sure you could prove one is better than the other. But when you are busting your butt on a weekly basis with them, it sure is nice to have some variety.
Prince of Fatness
I have never really bothered with intervals, mainly because I didn't know where to start.
When you have to slow down the reps or take longer recoveries.
Not at it at all.
Rereading this and seeing that these two quotes show how stupid I can be when I put my mind to it. Start somewhere and adjust, dumbass. Duh.
Right on Hereford...
There are three basic types of intervals, each with a purpose: 1) 200-400m intervals with long recoveries: The purpose of this workout is to develop raw speed, working on strength, turnover, and fast-twitch muscle coordination. To achieve this, it is important to run each interval as fast as possible. Long recoveries are used to make sure you can run each interval near maximal pace. By definition, these intervals are limited to a max of 400m in length as you can't sustain speed longer than this. If you are prepping for a 800m or 1500/1600m race, you may do 600-800m in this workout though you will likely no longer be at maximal speed, but doing more or a race simulation (ie running 800m at 1500m race pace). These workouts are actually not very fatiguing, because if you accumulate residual fatigue between intervals you can't sustain the speed required in the workout. Of the three types, this will have the fewest number of intervals in a set. 2) 400m-1600m intervals with medium recoveries The purpose of this workout is to go into anaerobic debt on each interval and thereby stimulat building up your anaerobic capacity. This can also help somewhat with strength and speed tolerance. Moderate recoveries (say, 3+min for a 400m etc) are used to allow time to clear the lactic acid from your system and get HR back near baseline in order to be able to repeat the effort in the next interval. Comparing a 400m under this strategy to a 400m under #1 above, the time will be slower. This workout will actually feel much harder on you that #1 above, because you are working your anaerobic system so hard. 3) 400m-3000m intervals with short recoveries The purpose of this workout is to give your body an extended period of time at the very upper limits of your aerobic zone. This is probably also the best way to develop speed tolerance for 5K-10K paced races. This is the only one of the three types where your recovery will be shorter than your intervals. For example, I run 800m intervals in 2:22-2:30 avg depending on conditioning but only jog recover 90sec. Sets will also be longer than the other two types. (I do 8-10X800 or 6-8X1000 typically). The short recoveries bring you back just enough to be able to go out and do the next interval just as fast, or slightly faster than, the previous one (if you lose the ability to hit your target in the middle of the set, start slower the next time!). Using this strategy, you spend the whole workout at a very high aerobic capacity, with each interval inching you closer and closer to anaerobic. Due to the constant demand, this is probably the most demanding of the types.
Regarding your #3 intervals, I don't think I've seen anything in Daniels book that looks like this. Would you mind clearing this up if possible? Thanks!
Runners run
#3 are similar to Daniels' "cruise intervals".
How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.
Sorry, I don't have Daniels' book handy, but weren't cruise intervals supposed to be done at threshold pace? Spaniel seems to be saying he does his #3 intervals at a little faster than 5k pace, which is significantly faster than Daniels' T-pace. It's been a year since I read that book, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details...
Hey MrPH, I've noticed your log several times, as you post qutie a bit, and how steady you have been in putting together a nice base. In my opinion a good place for you to start with intervals would be the longish variety, sticking in the zone between current 10k pace and tempo. For example, 4 x 1200, or 3 x 1600 with 1-lap recovery jogs. After you feel comfortable with them cut the jog down to 200 meters. Do these religiously for 6-8 weeks and I promise you that your race times will come down signficantly. The feeling you look for is "comfortably hard". You are glad to finish the last one but could do 1 or 2 more if you had to. Make sure you do a good warmup before you start too--a minimum of 2 miles. This is a great thread--if I could add one thing it would about training differenes for older runners. Not that you are old (like me ), but at 45 you are older than most of these guys. The older you get the less bang for the buck there is in doing a lot of v02 max, but we can keep improving lactic threshold indefinitely. This is not to say that we should never do any hard intervals, it's just that it is probably not the best place to put most of our energy.
FWIW, virtually all the intervals I do fall into the #3 bucket.
The bulk of my speed workouts are #3.
I agree with all of this. I'm only 38 but I alreay notice the difference in what I get out of workouts now versus 5 years ago and by far the biggest bang for the buck are the types of workouts above. I can get ready to race pretty well at just about any distance from 5K to marathon with with "moderate" mileage and workouts like 6 x 1000m, 5 x mile, 3 x 2 mile etc at somewhere between 10k and HM pace. Since I began training again after a haitus about two and a half years ago, these have been my staple workouts. I have probably done the 6 x 1000 workout more than any other. If I'm doing it on the track, I do 6 x 1000 with a 200 jog.