Heart-rate data/Interval training (part III)

[John_W]

I've been doing another type of interval session on the treadmill in the last month - been doing this every Monday morning for the past 4 weeks.

The 1st time I did it it was hard... really really hard. Sweating buckets by the end, so much so I had to remove my t-shirt... the heat and sweat was irritating me so much. Good job there was no-one else around!

2nd time around it was the same thing. But last Monday and this morning it felt *much* more comfortable - I wasn't desperate for it to finish and I had more energy in the hours afterwards.

I've been curious to see the heart-rate data and lo and behold, it bears out my experience. The green and blue data show a quicker and deeper recovery and lower maximum rate.

So it's only taken my body 3 sessions to adjust and improve - I'm delighted with that.

Message is this: interval training (whether outdoors or treadmill) is a really *efficient* way to increase your fitness - I'm hoping that it translates into an increase in speed and endurance

The session is this:

3 min @ 9.5 km/h (jog)

4 min @ 13.5 km/h (tempo)

2 min recovery (9.5 km/h )

4 min @ 13.5 km/h

2 min recovery

4 min @ 13.5 km/h

2 min recovery

4 min @ 13.5 km/h

3 min recovery

I've done a load of others which I might post about some other time.

Ciao!

John

[Tomas Graduate]

Love what you have done with the data here, and love your analytical approach. Validating things this way makes the lessons far more robust.

[John_W Graduate in reply to Tomas]

Thanks Tomas - my TomTom Cardio Runner watch exports any run as a CSV file, so easy enough to import into Excel and play about a bit

[harveyemm Graduate]

Very interesting post---I have been doing interval work on a treadmill---it is really hard work---I tend to keep the sessions short. I agree it has improved my fitness---I notice it in every day activities.

I really like the data you have printed--it looks like a good watch--I might have a look at getting one.

[John_W Graduate in reply to harveyemm]

Thanks. Yeah, intervals are incredibly I find.

The watch is a TomTom Cardio Runner - they've updated to newer models of course. Any run data can be exported to the likes of Runkeeper or Strava but also, handily, to a CSV file format which makes it easy to import into Excel and play about with, like I've done above.

I think the Garmins with inbuilt heart rate monitors can export to CSV too.

Glad you liked the data

John

[Eatcakeandrun]

Really interesting, and makes that hard work worth it. I have just started doing 30-20-10 intervals - link here for details - runnersworld.com/peak-perfo...

it s hard but not impossible.

[John_W Graduate in reply to Eatcakeandrun]

Hi,

Yeah, I've seen the 30-20-10 post of JuicyJu's. I'm not sure the 10 second bits will work on the treadmill but they can always be adapted I guess. I'd do it outdoors but my watch isn't that programmable. Maybe an mp3 player would work.

Thanks for the link and your interest

John

PS, love your username. I *love* cake

[Eatcakeandrun in reply to John_W]

yes I love cake too - that is why I run (partly!)

I use Endomondo, and have programmed an interval session on it, but it would be tricky on a treadmill!