Intervals question

Patrick_K

Hi Folks,

Looking for a bit of advice on interval training for an inexperienced runner - (me)
I'm following a Hal Higdon 8K program and my session today was 8x400 @ 5K pace. 5K pace for me is about 6 min miles.

When I finished today my garmin told me my average speed in the intervals was about 05:40 min mile.

What I'm wondering is should I continue with that and be doing the 400s in as fast as I can or should I shorten the rest so I am only able to do the 400s at 6 min mile pace.
Rest today was a slow 90 sec jog.

Cheers
PK

shels4ever

Patrick_K wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Looking for a bit of advice on interval training for an inexperienced runner - (me)
I'm following a Hal Higdon 8K program and my session today was 8x400 @ 5K pace. 5K pace for me is about 6 min miles.

When I finished today my garmin told me my average speed in the intervals was about 05:40 min mile.

What I'm wondering is should I continue with that and be doing the 400s in as fast as I can or should I shorten the rest so I am only able to do the 400s at 6 min mile pace.
Rest today was a slow 90 sec jog.

Cheers
PK

I'd try to stick to my 5 k pace and reduce the rest and increase the reps over time. How long were you taking?

RoyMcC

Or indeed just slow your pace to what St Hal says! I guess many runners on here have come across this issue. I guess the simple answer would be to shorten the interval to increase endurance or maximise pace to improve speed-endurance.

I'll be interested to hear what the experienced posters have to say on this.

Krusty_Clown

Good question. I have found myself in a similar position recently (and almost the same pace figures), so look forward to the feedback. I have just stuck with the pace which is slightly faster than 5k, as I don't think that slowing down would benefit me as much, and it has not hampered the other sessions during the week. So no obvious negative implications, though the improvement in my Vo2max may have suffered (which was the purpose of the intervals).

Patrick_K

I was taking ~82 seconds per interval Shels.

I presume in an intervals session you should max out and not be able to do another interval at the end. For me to do that today and run at my 5K pace I would need to reduce my rest period I guess.
I suppose it's a matter of trial and error until you find the right mix.

RoyMcC

Patrick_K wrote: »

I presume in an intervals session you should max out and not be able to do another interval at the end.

Best to finish 'in control' I think. Unless you're an elite runner I don't think killing yourself with reps is the way to train.

kennyb3

RoyMcC wrote: »

Best to finish 'in control' I think. Unless you're an elite runner I don't think killing yourself with reps is the way to train.

+1 I agree, and was going to say the same.

As Krusty has eluded to (and confirmed its not the case with him) you shouldnt be absolutely killing yourself and risking injury/tiredness that comprimises other sessions in your training week.

There is stuff in P&D book road racing for serious runners about training over/faster than your VO2 max - have a read of it if you can. intervals should be at 95-98% of VO2 max and you can roughly gauge VO2 max by your race times

some discussion on something similar here

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3411811

shels4ever

RoyMcC wrote: »

Best to finish 'in control' I think. Unless you're an elite runner I don't think killing yourself with reps is the way to train.

+1
Yep control. Remeber its training not a race , dont think you need to max out anytime in training , remeber is only one of your session a week. No point leaving all your good running in training and then been crocked come race time.

Patrick_K

OK sounds like good advice gents, thanks.
I'm going to slow the runs a bit, shorten the rest a bit and try to control it a bit more.

Just bought P+Ds book during the week so I'll have a read of what they say about it in there too.

Cheers
PK

ecoli

Sessions are never suppose to be all out whether you elite or not. The objective is to come away feeling tired but not exhausted as such i recommend listening to your body if you are finding it too easy (not just in one session but on a continual basis) my advice would be to shorten the recoveries a bit but only if you are not suffering to the point where it is not jeopardising your other training during the week.
The main principle of sessions is to stress your body and adapt if you are finding it too easy then you are staying in a comfort zone and hindering development

Hard Worker

You should build up the quantity while reducing the recovery over a period of a few months. Cut the recovery by 5 seconds every couple of weeks and add a 400 every couple of weeks also. You will probably find that if you do the first half of the session at 5K pace, you will do the second half of the session at 3K pace, with the same effort. The idea with that session is to churn them out and don't have hands on knees getting your breath back after crossing the line.

BeepBeep67

Personally I don't do 400's at Interval (5k) pace, I run run them at Rep (1M) pace and only use them in a certain part of the schedule. Are you aiming for a particular race, when is that, what distance is it? Early in your program you should be running longer distances at I pace, lets say 5-6 x 1k @ 5k pace, as you get closer to your goal race (4-6 weeks out), shorten the distance and increase the pace to help you sharpen, maybe keeping the total distance the same (build up to 12 x 400 @ 1M pace), ideally suited for 10k and less as they build efficiency, but can be used for longer distances also.

Patrick_K

BeepBeep - am building towards a 5M race in 4 weeks.

I know the program I'm following is pretty generic but at this stage I'm trying to get an understanding for what I'm trying to achieve as much as anything so this is very interesting to me, thanks.

Hard Worker

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Personally I don't do 400's at Interval (5k) pace, I run run them at Rep (1M) pace and only use them in a certain part of the schedule. Are you aiming for a particular race, when is that, what distance is it? Early in your program you should be running longer distances at I pace, lets say 5-6 x 1k @ 5k pace, as you get closer to your goal race (4-6 weeks out), shorten the distance and increase the pace to help you sharpen, maybe keeping the total distance the same (build up to 12 x 400 @ 1M pace), ideally suited for 10k and less as they build efficiency, but can be used for longer distances also.

That's a different type of session. You don't mention recovery. Both sessions have different benefits. By doing them at 5K / 3K pace, you can get your recovery down to 30 seconds while still keeping "within yourself" or not finishing with your hands on knees ( just trying to keep this simple ). I find this to be better for 10K and upwards.