interval "syntax" and importance?

angdis said:

Hi all,

I have been running for 1.5 years now and have started training for a
marathon sometime in the summer. I want to try to keep to a training
schedule that includes periodic sessions of interval training. My goal
is a ~3:30 marathon, although I am currently at a consistent 8 min/mile
pace.

The training advice on the web describe intervals in different ways...
for example:

* 400 x 10 x 2 - 2 mins, 5 mins = 400 meters, 10 reps, 2 sets, 2 min
rep-break, 5 min set-break?

* 5 miles with 5x2min @ RPE 3-6 = I am not sure. But this is the way
it list in my training advice.

Can someone point me to a glossary for deciphering intervals?

Also, how imporatant are they? Do they only serve to increase speed? I
currently run in a very undisciplined way and it will be hard for me to
stick to intervals, but I want to give it a shot if it will really
increase my speed.

-H.

Looks like you got the first one right.

The second one is what I call a pick up run. During a five mile run do
five accelerations for two minutes at whatever RPE 3-6 is. I'd guess
race pace equivelent for a 3-6 mile race. But that is a guess.

Intervals can be good or bad. Good because they do make you faster and
give you a good idea for pacing. Bad because they can cause injury and
give you the ability to go out too fast in the first half of a
marathon. I prefered to avoid the track workouts when training for
marathons. I would do longer pick-up and tempo runs (a tempo run is a
fast steady pace set between a warm up and warm down usually over the
course of 10 or so miles.).

Two things I would do were in a 12 mile run, run easy for 3 miles,
tempo run (a little faster than marathon pace) for 6 miles and easy for
3. I also like running long runs at a negative pace. Run the first half
a little slower than training pace and the last half at marathon pace.
This achieves two things. It makes you faster and it helps you learn
how to run at pace over the course of a marathon. This way you can
switch on the auto-pilot and run without thinking about pace.

Hope this helps,
Andy

angdis said:

Hi all,

I have been running for 1.5 years now and have started training for a
marathon sometime in the summer. I want to try to keep to a training
schedule that includes periodic sessions of interval training. My goal
is a ~3:30 marathon, although I am currently at a consistent 8 min/mile
pace.

The training advice on the web describe intervals in different ways...
for example:

* 400 x 10 x 2 - 2 mins, 5 mins = 400 meters, 10 reps, 2 sets, 2 min
rep-break, 5 min set-break?

* 5 miles with 5x2min @ RPE 3-6 = I am not sure. But this is the way
it list in my training advice.

Can someone point me to a glossary for deciphering intervals?

Also, how imporatant are they? Do they only serve to increase speed? I
currently run in a very undisciplined way and it will be hard for me to
stick to intervals, but I want to give it a shot if it will really
increase my speed.

-H.

If you are looking for a simple interval that doesn't involve much
structure, I may have one. I starting using this in my training
recently since it is hard to get to a track for measured intervals. the
run is simply time based.

5-10minute warm up
repeat the next two steps for the main part of your run:
1minute at or near race pace
1minute at recovery pace (walking if you have too)
5-10minute cooldown

Usually I do this on a loop course, so I know the distance of when I
need to drop back to the cooldown. I've only done it so far on short
runs (2-3miles) but about once a week. My goal is usually to keep the
fast pace fast and the slow pace to not include walks. But I rather
walk recovery than to ease up on the fast pace. (But since it is
unmeasured distances, I only know the fast pace by the perceived
effort.) I usually have about 10-12 intervals in my run.

My watch has the timer feature, so I set that to 1minute, (hey so it
beeps each minute of the warmup and cooldown too, but who cares). The
only thing I have to think about is remembering to hit the split button
twice (once to turn off the timer alarm and once for the split time).

If you were trying this on a longer run, I'd suggest maybe a longer
rest break partway thru.

Enjoy the run and good luck in your marathon training.
ed

angdis said:

Also, how imporatant are they? Do they only serve to increase speed? I
currently run in a very undisciplined way and it will be hard for me to
stick to intervals, but I want to give it a shot if it will really
increase my speed.

Andy gave you a good description and some suggestions.

You might consider fartleks, rather than intervals (or in addition to) -
or just use intervals based on time rather than distance. Both the
"work" portion and the "recovery" portion have roles.

Fartleks (speed play) are just unstructured hard/easy - where the
intensity and duration of the hard and easy portion are up to you.
Workout 3 describes one type of fartlek - 2-6 min of work, 2-4 min
recovery. Although "true" fartleks are technically run hard for however
long you feel like it, then slow down for a bit, repeat - maybe on
hills, to next big tree, or telephone pole.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0966b.htm

I usually do them mostly aerobically - "hard" is below LT, "recovery" is
my normal run pace. But on days I feel frisky and getting near a race
will occasionally go above LT for hard, then recover at about 83-85% max
hr (I recognize by breathing). I usually depend on breathing rate or hr
to tell me when to go hard again. I have used timed recoveries on
snowshoes in really sloppy conditions so I don't spend too much recovery
time. It just depends on what I'm trying to do what duration and
intensity I use for the hard and recovery portions.

Since I run a lot of hills, I'm as likely to use uphill portions to
stress cardio system (and build strength), and downhills (carefully
chosen) to work on leg speed.

A couple references explaining the relation of the work and recovery
portions of intervals that really helped me:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0145.htm
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0098.htm
If you search for "interval" on that site, you'll get lots more.

I'm slow so don't depend on any of my details to get faster. 🙂 Just
look at principles.

Good luck.

Dot

--
"You’ll never hear me say I beat the Peak. I’ve run up there pretty
fast, and that mountain doesn’t care. I’ll never conquer the Peak." -
Matt Carpenter

"angdis" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I have been running for 1.5 years now and have started training for a
marathon sometime in the summer. I want to try to keep to a training
schedule that includes periodic sessions of interval training. My goal
is a ~3:30 marathon, although I am currently at a consistent 8 min/mile
pace.

If you've got some decent mileage (50+ mpw) and you're really doing 8:00
miles, that should be a very doable goal. (You may be significantly faster
than a 3:30, but save that for attempt #2)

Quoted message said:

The training advice on the web describe intervals in different ways...
for example:

* 400 x 10 x 2 - 2 mins, 5 mins = 400 meters, 10 reps, 2 sets, 2 min
rep-break, 5 min set-break?

This is way too much volume. My rule of thumb is no more than 5% of your
weekly distance of actual speed in any single speed workout. If you run
80km/wk, that would be 10 x 400m. I used to do that when I ran 150km/wk,
and I think 8 x 400 would be fine for you.

Quoted message said:

* 5 miles with 5x2min @ RPE 3-6 = I am not sure. But this is the way
it list in my training advice.

Andy did a nice job of deciphering this. And the volume is not too much
(only 10 min of speed).

Quoted message said:

Also, how imporatant are they? Do they only serve to increase speed?

If done properly, you can get another 3-4% or so of speed (6-8
mins/marathon).

Quoted message said:

currently run in a very undisciplined way and it will be hard for me to
stick to intervals, but I want to give it a shot if it will really
increase my speed.

If you run them fast, but not too fast, they can be a welcome break and even
exhilirating. Keep your effort just below the redline:

If your form deteriorates or you have to strain to maintain pace, you're too
fast.
If your legs are burning you're too fast.

If you sense this happening in the midst of an interval, correct immediately
and back off just a bit to relieve the symptoms. Flirt with the redline,
but don't cross it.

If you sense tightness or joint/muscle/tendon pain, immediately slow down or
stop if necessary. Sometimes you'll need to abort a workout, jog some, and
stretch for a couple of days before trying again.

Do this once or at most twice/week, for 4-6 weeks prior to your target race.
It's a peaking activity, not for week-in week-out repetition.

Chances of injury are greatly reduced if they're run below the strain point.

-- Dan