Great run today- but is 8K too long for an interval run?

[PurpleFish59]

I’m coming to the end of a Garmin coach 5K plan with the aim of getting my time under 30 mins. Today’s run was speed intervals. In total I covered 8K on the workout, which I would normally consider to be a “long run” (for me, I know not by the standards of some people on here!) I’m wondering if pushing speed on an 8K run is not the best plan given I’ve not long passed the 10K distance, and looking for opinions from more experienced runners.

I will say that it was a great run, I seemed to fly through the intervals and during the interval section I covered 5K in just over 31 mins which gives me hope for hitting my target. One of those runs that make the hard ones worth it 😊

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Because you enjoyed it so much I would think it fine. But as it turned into such a long run, I definitely would urge you to take a couple of days off running.

What was the structure of your intervals workout? It is feasible (and beneficial) to add faster intervals to a long run, but these would tend to be fewer, and lower intensity, than those of a shorter dedicated intervals workout.

As I'm sure you now realise, it's a good idea to estimate what distance your workout is likely to take you - both for logistical and safety reasons xxx

[PurpleFish59]

The run was 5 mins warm up walk/jog, 4x 30 sec cadence drills with 30 secs rest between, 4x acceleration drills 30 secs each then 10x 400m speed intervals with 1 min walk in between. Then 10 mins cool down jog. That’s the other interesting thing about the Garmin coach plan, the next workout is 11.5K on Sunday. Last weeks mileage was only around 15K total and I’ve already done 4.5K this week so it seems like a big jump 🤔 the long run is a run walk run (as it’s a Jeff Galloway plan) so I’ll see how I feel. Either skip or do significantly more walking than running!

[triumph-tiger Half Marathon in reply to PurpleFish59]

Yes that does seem quite a big jump! I did the Garmin Coach 10k Greg plan and don't remember any increases quite like that. I did figure by the end to be a bit flexible with the plan though - if you are feeling tired better to skip a run (or do some other exercise for a day instead) rather than push it and end up injured. I'm now doing the Garmin Coach Amy HM plan so will see how that goes.

Good luck with the 30 min 5k - that was also one of my goals, and I managed to achieve that a week before the end of the 10k plan!

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to PurpleFish59]

Sorry, I read this and thought about it, but didn't get around to answering! 🙄

I think that Galloway allows for greater leaps in weekly distance because it is a much more gentle approach, so you should be fine. You are working on running longer, so it does make sense to push things a little. But if you're not happy with the 11.5K by all means skip or shorten it - or another idea would be just to take an extra day off between your runs and think of your running "week" as longer than 7 days.

I guess you may already have made the decision about the run by now though, so what did you do?

xxx

[PurpleFish59 in reply to roseabi]

No worries, I’ve no idea how you and Linda keep up with so many posts and reply to them all! I managed to complete, went at a snails pace (45s per km slower than normal average) and did a figure of 8 route so I new I’d be passing home if I felt like I was flagging. I thought it would be hard to run past home but actually I was having too much fun to stop!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Lol! It would be too long for me 😀. I was disappointed that my interval run this week didn't even reach 5k (so not eligible for (not)parkrun), but I'd have been mighty grumpy if it'd been 8k!

I do tend to keep my speed runs shorter (whether intervals or 'race' or parkrun). My 'tempo' runs which are slightly faster than my HM pace, but definitely slower than my speed runs, are longer though.

Many plans will have cut back weeks every 3 or 4 weeks; is it possible that last week was a cutback week and so not really comparable to other weeks?

[PurpleFish59 in reply to linda9389]

It seems to alternate, one week is speed intervals and a long run and the next week will be hill repeats and “magic mile” (1 mile as fast as you can). The hill repeats and speed intervals have had 2 intervals added each week and the long run goes up about 1.5K each time. But as the hill repeats are only 15 seconds the distance is going up much faster on the speed weeks. Would seem more logical to have the hills on long run weeks to me, but I’m sure the coaches know better! Maybe like you say it’s better to have a long week and a short week. Although I have to say give me 11K over a magic mile any day, they are my least favourite runs!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to PurpleFish59]

You should enjoy your HM training even more than this then 😍

[PurpleFish59 in reply to linda9389]

Yes I can’t wait to see the back of the magic mile and start focusing on distance again!

[triumph-tiger Half Marathon in reply to PurpleFish59]

Sounds fairly varied then - the Greg plan was also like that. The Amy plan seems to be fairly repetitive so far, just mix of Short Easy runs and Long Easy runs, but guess this will change as get further on. It had also stuck the long run at 6 miles distance for 3 weeks in a row. But next week this seem to have jumped to 8 miles - so not sure why didn't do this a bit more gradual!