How do you do your intervals? (Read 737 times)

At the risk of confusing you even more there are different types of intervals that vary in pace, duration, and interval/recovery ratio. My current training schedule has me anything from 10 x 1/1 (10 repeats of one minute interval with one minute recovery) to 4 x 5/2. In general, though, you're trying to develop your anaerobic systems so you want to push anaerobic as much as possible, with just enough recovery to keep going for a longer workout. As a result, I believe your recoveries should take no more time than the preceding interval - and usually should take less time. I generally prefer to do my intervals on the treadmill because it makes sure I maintain the pace I want. On the track I'm too likely to slow down for the later intervals - and go too fast on the earlier ones . For most of us, though, I'm sure the details don't really matter so much as the fact that we're doing this in the first place. We can always sweat the details when we become an elite .

letsrun post on intervals The gist of the post is that most regard intervals as running quite fast/hard, what is considered 'anaerobic', and this would be true if it takes a lot of recovery between intervals (i.e. ~3 or more minutes). The poster here regards intervals as being quite aerobic in nature and designed to simulate the effects of a long slower run or a 'high aerobic' tempo-style run. The idea is you run fairly short intervals segments of around 400 meters but not so fast it takes a few minutes to recovery, instead do them about a tempo pace and a recovery jog of about a minute. You should also be able to do a lot of these so the workout is more like a longish run in time. So the actual harder run sections are quite manageable, you're not gasping for air so to speak neat the end of them but doing each quite comfortably. Overall, your heartrate stays elevated througout, even during the recovery sections but never excessively high. I haven't tried doing intervals in this way but I might incorporate this style come spring to see if/how it works and can I keep restrained enough to do them properly.

I see your profile says you are new to running. Intervals are a great way to get faster, but looking at your log, you may want to concentrate on more miles first. I had a cross country coach who advised no fast stuff until at least 40 miles per week or so. Your mileage may vary (no pun intended), but think of it this way -- intervals are the icing on the cake, but you gotta bake the cake first, through base mileage. As you run more miles, your average "easy" pace will naturally get faster as your aerobic system gets more developed. To answer your questions directly, let's look at your paces: jog 4.5mph = 13:20/mi int 6.5mph = 9:14/mi First of all, average pace for an entire interval workout is a number you don't have to worry about. I sometimes have interval days that average out to being slower than easy days. You recently ran a 5k in 34:19 (on 10/11) @ 11:03/mi. If we plug that race into a running calculator, such as this one using Jack Daniels' formulas, we get Easy pace: 14:00/mi Threshold/Tempo: 11:26/mi Interval: 10:37/mi Reps(short intervals with equal distance recovery): 2:34/400m (10:19/mi) Looking at these suggested paces, it looks like you may be doing your everyday easy runs too fast, and your intervals as well. You currently do a lot of easy runs 11:15~12:00/mi range, which is awfully close to your race pace. Now, since you're new to running, you are probably on the fast part of the improvement curve, where yesterday's race pace seems to become today's easy pace as you run more. But still, I worry you're going too fast every day. Can you sustain a conversation for the duration of your easy runs? If the answer is no, slow down until you can. MY overall advice is to ditch the intervals for now, slow down your easy pace, and run more miles. Running more will make you faster, whether it's in a race, or just your easy pace. And running slower will prevent injury. A lot of slow miles is better than a few fast miles. Don't be afraid to vary the pace to make it interesting, but focus on doing most of your miles at a conversational pace. Good luck!

Hmmm, ok. Seems the consensus is run more, no intervals. Okie dokie. Thanks guys Sorry to be such a n00b and keep asking dopey questions.

worry less. as you run more you can fine tune and try different workouts etc. There is no "perfect" way. Just do what works for you for now. When something starts to feel routine, shake it up try a different way. FWIW, yes, my average pace on interval runs tends to be the same or slower than easy runs.

Ditto to that!