I was standing at the trailhead talking with some of the members of my running club last night when one of them asked if I wanted to run intervals with him. Now being a complete interval virgin, I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to try out this weird science. So we started running with the mid-pack group to warm up a bit, then Walter started my Interval 101 class. Having only read about how one should go about doing this, I decided to just go with the flow, in this case just mimic Walter who sounded like he knew what he was doing.
After our warmup we settled down to a slightly slower pace, then gradually increased this for a minute or so, then Walter picked a point on the horizon and we accelerated at a good clip until we reached the designated point. From there we decelerated gradually for a minute or two, then (to my surprise) took a walk break for about a minute. After this we repeated this sequence over and over for approx. 8-9K, then finished with a 1K cooldown jog.
When we returned to the trailhead after the run a couple of the group started haggling Walter that he was doing intervals incorrectly, e.g. that it was wrong to take walk breaks, we should have run slowly. A couple more said it was fine to do walk breaks if we thought we needed to.
So what do you guys think? What is the correct way to run intervals, and/or what has worked for you?
Sounds like a fartlek session to me. I'd definitely do without the walking breaks, but for a more recreational runner they might help with recovery.
It sounds like a great way to do some speedwork, who cares if it's right or wrong!
I read somewhere once that if you have to walk you are probably pushing too hard. I do sometimes walk but just to take in fluids.
I do intervals regularly. I read somewhere that you can't do intervals wrong, and I think that is largely correct.
On my Cardio Coach CD, he has you slow down to what he calls a "level 2" - a bit faster than warm-up, but definitely recovery.
The speed of the interval depends on the length: 1 minute on 1 minute recovery means you are running slower than 30 seconds on 1 minute recovery. 30 seconds and Freddy Kreuger is after me!
I think it boils down to this: did you feel like to needed to walk? How hard were you breathing? If an "airborne shuffle" :-) was slow enough for recovery, then do that. if you need to walk, then walk.
Scott Jurek had me jog between intervals, Lisa Smith-Batchen told me to walk at least 50 meters between sets to make sure of proper recovery and more push on the interval. I prefer to walk those 50m, definitely between longer repeats:)
Sounds totally fine to me. The goal of interval training is that you run hard, then recover - but not completely. The idea, as I understand it, is to teach your body to recover more quickly, and to handle faster speeds. Sounds like you did that.
They sound like fartleks to me too but the purpose is about the same. When I do track work intervals I walk briefly at the end of each repeat and jog to the next start line and go again. It's not so much the walking or jogging recovery as the speed and consistency of speed in each repeat; or so I believe. How did you feel afterwards?
My favorite way to run intervals?
In cleats and shinguards.
My favorite way to run intervals?
In cleats and shinguards.
if you are doing HIGH ITENSITY interval training it is highly recommended that you walk for a minute or two in between each sprint. now it's up to you to decide if this was high intensity or not. if it wasn't, either will work.