HIIT - Any Good?

Paully D

Hi all, I recently did the Couch to 5K programme and can complete my 5k run with no problems. I've been doing this usually every second day with the intention of losing weight but am looking to do some training that will make weight loss quicker. I've adjusted my diet and all that sort of stuff, so I'm just wondering is this type of training any good?

http://www.intervaltraining.net/hiit.html

Any advice about the above would be much appreciated

macinalli

First off, I'd be wary of any site that uses a photo like that!

While it is true that intervals will be of benefit to you, I don't think that it's a good idea to do them just yet. You're making good progress but you still need to establish a solid base; without that you're just asking for injuries. My suggestion for you would be to mix up your training a bit. If you're doing 5k every 2nd day, after a while the benefit will diminish and/or you'll get bored.

If you're running 3 days a week consider something like:
(i) 1 run longer than 5k - gradually increase the distance and run it at a comfortable pace
(ii) 1 tempo run - something like 1k slow, increase the pace over the next 3k, then 1k cooldown. Again the distance can be gradually increased over time
(iii) 1 slow recovery run. This is to allow the legs recover - not all your runs should be about going faster/longer

Once you've been doing this for a while then you can consider intervals, but IMHO you shouldn't do them just yet