I have never done one before. I just went to a local park where they hold Little Athletics and have a track marked out on the grass. I did a gentle run there, did 6 x 400 with 400m recoveries, and then a gentle run home.
As it was my first time it was a bit fiddley. My Polar HRM was doing auto-laps every 1km, I didn't get the manual lap thing working well until the 5th lap.
On top of that, I don't think I did it well. I can run 5km temp run at about 5:05 min/km but was doing my intervals at about 2 min per lap (a 5:00 min/km pace). At the end I didn't really feel like I had pushed myself hard at all.
I am aiming at a HM in early Dec so not much time to get this right, but beyond that am looking at other HM and a full marathon next year. So far my HM PB is 2:05 but hope to go under 2:00 this time.
Does anyone have a pointer to a good info site on intervals? The link in the training section of CR seems dead. I want to know what I should do: lengthen the intervals to 800m? Do more? Go faster? All of the above?
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Did My First Interval Session This Morning
Started by Olmy, Nov 06 2009 04:54 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
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- Forum Member
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veryCoolRunner
- Location:Newcastle
Posted 06 November 2009 - 04:54 PM
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#2
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1000-club gold-rated CoolRunner
- Location:Hills District Sydney
Posted 06 November 2009 - 05:33 PM
Olmy, congratulations on making the first step to being a faster runner.
I would suggest that where you have started is a good place, as you have discovered that running at your normal pace is not going to tire you out or get your HR up. What you need to do is run the intervals quicker, I would suggest that somewhere in the range of 1.30 to 1.45 is more like what you should be doing(1.30 is 3.45 pace, however you are only doing 400m with a break) Try doing 1.45 pace first for a session and see how you handle that, if no problems next session drop down a little again. Remember that you are likely to build up some lactic in the legs, so make sure after every speed session you do an easy run(or similar easy activity) to loosen up your legs(or you will be very sore in the legs).
Most times it is better to do the interval works with a squad or group of runners as it makes it easier to push harder with others there to share the pain.
As you get better at running the 400m then have a go at doing different intervals(1000m, 600m etc) you can do all sorts of things like ladders, fartleks etc which will stop the intervals from being too repetitive.
If you would like something a bit more detailed PM me and I will send you something.
Good luck and keep at it.
I would suggest that where you have started is a good place, as you have discovered that running at your normal pace is not going to tire you out or get your HR up. What you need to do is run the intervals quicker, I would suggest that somewhere in the range of 1.30 to 1.45 is more like what you should be doing(1.30 is 3.45 pace, however you are only doing 400m with a break) Try doing 1.45 pace first for a session and see how you handle that, if no problems next session drop down a little again. Remember that you are likely to build up some lactic in the legs, so make sure after every speed session you do an easy run(or similar easy activity) to loosen up your legs(or you will be very sore in the legs).
Most times it is better to do the interval works with a squad or group of runners as it makes it easier to push harder with others there to share the pain.
As you get better at running the 400m then have a go at doing different intervals(1000m, 600m etc) you can do all sorts of things like ladders, fartleks etc which will stop the intervals from being too repetitive.
If you would like something a bit more detailed PM me and I will send you something.
Good luck and keep at it.
#3
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veryCoolRunner
- Gender:Female
- Location:Berwick, Melbourne
Posted 06 November 2009 - 07:38 PM
is the idea with intervals - you run 400m fast and then 400m recovery? I'm confused with all the interval/ladder/fartlek talk...help me too 
#4
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1000-club gold-rated CoolRunner
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Posted 06 November 2009 - 07:47 PM
Intervals- run a specific distance at a specific pace with a specific recovery. ( eg 5 X1km @ 5km race pace with 1km easy recovery, 8 X 200m in 45s with 45s standing recovery)
Fartlek-" speed play" You vary your pace ina more relaxed way- run hard to top of hill, or to next lightpost, then back off. some people do a more structured fartlek- but is more about running on "feel" than prescribed times/ distances/paces.
Ladders/ pyramids etc- Just different types of intervals- ag a ladder up might be 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1000m with same ez recovery. Pyramid -2,4,,6,4,2.
Hope that helps
twosheds
Fartlek-" speed play" You vary your pace ina more relaxed way- run hard to top of hill, or to next lightpost, then back off. some people do a more structured fartlek- but is more about running on "feel" than prescribed times/ distances/paces.
Ladders/ pyramids etc- Just different types of intervals- ag a ladder up might be 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1000m with same ez recovery. Pyramid -2,4,,6,4,2.
Hope that helps
twosheds
