Adding Intervals to Your Training

Are you ready to start running faster?

If you are:
✔️New to running
✔️Coming back from injury or a lay off from running
✔️Coming back from your off-season (where all your training was less intense)
✔️Haven't done speed/interval work in several months/years

Here's a GREAT way to work yourself safely toward more intense workouts!

💪💪 Incorporate Strides into your training! 💪💪

Strides are a brief acceleration of fast running (not meaning as all-out sprint, but fast) whereby you build up your speed, peak out at your "fast pace" in the middle, and then taper back off to finish the stride. A good rule of thumb is to aim for 20 seconds per stride (or around 100 meters'ish), on a flat area. I recommend 2-4 weeks of strides before adding a true interval workout to your week.

Perform 4-6 strides after you've completed your normal run or in the middle to add some fun.

Strides are a great way to wake up your body to faster running and can be used as a stepping stone to actual interval work. They are a great way to work on your running technique. They will help you create more efficiency in your stride and are a fun, energetic way to add some faster running to your training. 

Additionally, strides are often done as part of the warm up routine before interval work or racing. Which leads us to adding a true interval run to your training week.

 You would perform one of these once each week - you can perform the same workout for at least 2 weeks before advancing to the next. The pace of the workout is completely based on your current fitness. Running at an RPE of 6-8/10 is a good place to start.  

Workout 1: 3 sets of (4 x 400 with 1:00 rest), 3:00 rest between sets

Workout 2: 2 sets of (6 x 400 with 1:00 rest), 3:00 rest between sets

Workout 3: 12 x 400 with 1:00-1:15 rest

All three workouts can be manipulated by decreasing or increasing the number of sets to match your current fitness level. They are essentially the same amount of actual running volume, but what changes as you advance is the density of the workout. Density is best defined as the combination of work done and the time it takes to do it. So as these workouts progress, you increase density by packing in the same amount of work but in less overall time. This is a great way to build your fitness and speed!

In addition to the metabolic benefits (decreased body fat, increased energy), high intensity training benefits us in several other ways.

🚀 Reduction of Stress - While all forms of exercise create cortisol (a hormone that increases with stress), shorter, harder workouts create less of it, while supporting the body's anabolic response to exercise by increasing growth hormone. Longer, slower training increases cortisol load and has catabolic effects that promote fat storage and muscle loss.

👣 It Makes You Happier - Shorter, harder workouts promote the release of endorphins and serotonin which heighten mood and promote better sleep. Think Runner's High!

⚖ Creates time and Space for Strength Training - many athletes spend all their "exercise time" on volume leaving little to no time to include strength training. Shorter, harder training provides time and energy for more training balance.

🧠 Cognitive Benefits - high intensity exercise (more so than steady-state training) increases blood flow to the brain (meaning more oxygen and nutrients to the brain) which leads to improved mood, mental clarity, concentration and focus, just to name a few.
[https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2019/07000/Cerebral_Blood_Flow_during_Interval_and_Continuous.21.aspx]

When adding intervals, avoiding injury and burn-out is a high priority. A key element is understanding Easy Days and Quality (Hard) days.
🗝 #1, for almost any healthy goal, you need both in your training plan.
🗝 #2, ensure you have appropriate recovery between hard workouts. Why?  To get the most out of key workouts, to avoid injury and prevent over-training symptoms such as "burn-out."

🎯Quality Days (often called "hard" days) - may include long runs, tempo/threshold runs, interval workouts, high intensity combination workouts (run-bike). Quality days are ultimately designed to make you stronger, however, that will ONLY HAPPEN IF YOU RECOVER PROPERLY.

🎯Easy Days - Happy recovery days (shorter easy paced runs or less intense cross-training). You need at least one of these the day after a Quality day, and you may need more than one.

📣 Training load capacity and need for recovery is individual with many variables. Ideally we won't wait until we're burned out or injured before we realize maybe we need to adjust.
✔️Listen to your body.
✔️ Periodize your training and have a plan.
✔️ Understand the purpose of each run/workout.
✔️ Coaches come in very handy for this kind of stuff.

Have fun adding intervals to your training!