What is an "interval"?

[MelwynD]

I was reading about the run-walk-run method at this article blog.runpage.com/english/ho...

and was confused at this sentence "20 minute run-walk-run session with 5 minutes intervals". Is the 5 minutes, the walking part or the running part?

Glad if anyone can clarify.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Interval training, the 5 minutes are the walks, the first few weeks of C25K could be also considered as interval training, after that the running parts gradually increase.

[MelwynD Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

Thank you for the quick reply.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Both running and walking are time intervals in the article that you are referring to as explained in the line "A good ratio for beginners is 1:5 (one minute running followed by five minutes of walking) "That is one minute running interval followed by a five minute walking interval. As part of speed training runners often use what they refer to as intervals, but in this case it is fast run intervals and recovery run intervals.

the C25k training plan, designed for beginners, uses run/walk intervals. healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

[MelwynD Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Right, thank you! Now I understood what the writer meant. The schedule for Monday for a Novice Runner was "20 minute run-walk-run session with 5 minutes intervals" (what I had pasted).

Basically he wants us to break up the 20 min run into four 5-min intervals (or sessions). In that session, it is upto the individual how much they are comfortable running and walking.

[nowster Graduate]

I did distance based intervals (using the GPS watch) at one point: 250m running and 250m walking. That was probably equivalent to the time based ratio of 1:4. Doing run/walk intervals I tend to go a lot faster in the runs than I would if I was running continuously.

[MelwynD Graduate in reply to nowster]

Yes, same with me....can run longer only with run-walk intervals. I was surprised that Jeff Galloway does 15:15 ratio as per the article I pasted.