Interval run - done...

Morning all... Aussie here from a cloudy SW London (yay - not too hot!)..

So, this morning was "interval training" and I didn't really feel like heading out today but off we went to the riverside for some flat paths.. no silly hills today thank you very much... After a nice 10 minute warm up walk to the towpath it was off into the 3 minute "jog" piece of my intervals (the first of 6).. nice and slow - here we go...

Less than one song in and there's a "ding dong" in the ear and the lovely MapMyRun coach telling me it's time for "Interval 1 - High Intensity - 1 minute". Boom - we're off - sprinting away.. and loving it... this is great... I am a super hero... Look at me go... umm.. is 60 seconds up yet... it's okay I guess, but surely something's broken on the app... 60 seconds must be up by now...

This then continued for the 6 repetitions.. I did have a word with the gremlins about the inability of mortal man to change the fact that 60 seconds will pretty much always take about 60 seconds to elapse...

Then something weird happened... I had done 6 reps and was going to finish... and then I thought "no - today I am going to do 5K"... I figured one more rep would get me to 28 minutes and at my pace I wouldn't be far away from 5K by then... on we go then... 3 minute jog and the final 1 minute sprint... this one comes on STRONG... final push - come on Aussie - here we go... and then finally it's over... I slow right down to a really slow jog, panting like a crazy man... quick look at the watch - we're at 4.7km... you are KIDDING me right? Oh well, keep on jogging then... how long can 300m take? Turns out the answer is "about 2 minutes"...

A few Garmin PBs this morning!! WOOHOO!

1) Fastest 5K - 30:27.1 (ParkRun PB still holds at 29:19)

2) Fastest 1K - 5:49

Also - another VO2 Max increase on Miss Garmin (ie. it's working out I'm getting fitter) ... the Race Predictor telling me a half in under 2 hours is possible... HAHAHA... righto then Garmin... whatever you say... I'd pore over the stats now but Garmin Connect seems broken this morning... boo...

So - did I enjoy my first interval run? Hmm... it was fine, but it really did feel like a "training session" rather than "just out having a run"... Which I'm fine with as I'm mixing up some slow long runs with the more structured interval/hill work and then just a "cheeky 5K" during the week...

I can see how these sorts of sessions can really help with fitness/speed/endurance though... they're hard work, but it was awesome to finish (as you can tell from the photo!)...

Happy running y'all

[paul2014 Graduate]

Well done, Aussie and a great photo ;o)

I did my interval run last night, too. I followed your plan ;o) Five minute warm up / warm down walks and 6 x 3min easy jog followed by 1 min fast run.

I know what you mean when you say you felt like it was a 'training session' as opposed to 'just having a run'. This is why I did my interval run on my treadmill (I did my first interval run last week outside) and the fact that I could tap in the speed I wanted to run at (especially the fast run) and know that I would have to keep running at that speed for the full 60 seconds. The graphs following my interval run looked very different to any other graphs so far, as you would expect of course ;o)

[misswobble Graduate in reply to paul2014]

Well done Aussie! Garmin is back up now by the way.

It's hot here! I'm off to watch me veg grow

[Hidden in reply to misswobble]

Garmin Express is still down though... and Connect has been playing up all day... Bah - darn technology... Maybe I'll just have a beer (oh, okay then, twist my arm)...

[AmberC Graduate]

I think your interval training sounds better than the one I did this morning.......I signed up to do an Asics running plan, and the set up for intervals was:

Warm up walk for 5 mins

Interval running for 1km at 7:15 pace

Jog for 3-5 minutes

Interval running for 1km at 7:15 pace

Jog for 3-5 minutes

Interval running for 1km at 7:15 pace

Jog for 3-5 minutes

Cool down for 5 minutes

I can't say I enjoyed it at all, I think next week I might have to try yours instead.

I'm not sure I'm going to like the Asics plan very much, it does not seem to be sticking to the 10% rule when it comes to increasing distance.....so I think I will have to tweak it a bit.

Good luck with your training.

[Hidden in reply to AmberC]

Hey Amber - that sounds far too complicated... run fast, jog slow is much easier for my brain to comprehend... even with all the fancy toys, the "Run 7:!5 Pace" thing would drive me to distraction...

That also sounds quite intense... if you're on a 7:15m/km (okay, that's easy-ish pace for me but bear with me)... your jog of 3-5 minutes would be 500m or so... so you'd be going hard for 1km, then easy for 500m... which is fine if this was a later session rather than one of the earlier ones...

I think for earlier sessions you should be doing less hard work than easy jogging and then build it up... it's easy to see how my run today of 7 minutes hard work and 23 minutes "easier work" would slowly build up to be the other way around... but only over time... which is why intervals are GREAT for speed!

Good luck - I have so many plans to hand I usually just end up doing my own thing regardless... I like structure but sometimes it's good to just do whatever takes your fancy... I save a long run for the weekend - beyond that my other sessions are shorter ones and I'll decide a few days before what they might be...

13K on Sunday... bring it on!

[Tomas Graduate]

Sounds excellent, and like you had a great work out. With the stress being on the "work" bit

I'm due my very first interval session later today, so it's great to read what I have to look forward to. My BUPA plan suggests 6 minute warm up and then 6 intervals at 1 min run + 2 min jog. I added 6 min jog afterwards to get it to 30 minutes, hoping that it would take me over the 5k. Sounds like great minds think alike *lol*

[Hidden in reply to Tomas]

Yeah - I do like to do at least 5K each session now... although my hill session next week may prove that you don't always need to (or are able to)...

Have you had fun on your session... easy to see how they'd help with speed over time if treated with respect...

[pinkangel16 Graduate]

Wow, that sounds like Hard Work!

Fair play to you - I'm sure you'll be mega-fit in no time!

Now make sure you have an enjoyable run soon x

[Hidden in reply to pinkangel16]

13K easy on Sunday...