Work out - Fast session - Intervals

Watch any video on youtube about how to run a faster 5k and they'll always mention the 'interval session'.

Basically this is running 1km at around your race pace. Then having 60-90 seconds rest. Then doing it again until you have done five (or maybe eight) intervals.
The interval session
The above screenshot shows an interval session I did recently. A few points of note
  1. Do a warm up first. Personally, I just like doing a 2km run, starting pretty slow, but in the second km stretch the pace up a few times. Others do stretching - but generally I quite like just spending 8-9 minutes building up to running pace.
  2. Plan a route that is pretty flat and has no nasty road junctions.
  3. Run each km at roughly the same pace you'd run a parkrun. I'd do a typical parkrun in around 18'20 to 18'40. So this is roughly 3:45/km pace. But some days you feel good and it'll be slightly faster, some days slightly slower. If you run your parkruns in around 25:00 then do your intervals around 5:00/km pace.
  4. In between efforts, I pace around keeping the legs moving gently and count to 60s in my head. Then go again. The 3rd and 4th effort are always the hardest, so try and keep the pace up and don't let it drop.
  5. At the end - do a slow run for 1-2km just to warm down.
An alternative interval session is 12 sets of 400m (still around 5km of effort). For this one, you'll want to be running faster then race pace - so instead of doing 3:45/km splits I try to get nearer to 3:20/km. If you would do 5:00/km for 1km intervals, then for 400m efforts then see if you can get nearer 4:30/km. This efforts are shorter - but it feels pretty tough as you are hitting a harder pace.

Also, if doing 12 sets of 400m. The break should be a little shorter - maybe 30s. I do 4 sets of 400m with 30s break. Then have a 120s break. Then repeat two further times. So (4 x 400m) x 3.

12 sets of 400m
Finally, mix up your training week - two to three interval sessions per week will drive you crazy - so you need to keep it interesting and have a variety of different sessions to vary things. If you can find a a training partner a similar speed it also helps. If they are 10s faster than you, then you set off 5s before them and let them chase you and then when they overtake you try and hold on the best you can.

This blog post is part of a set of posts looking at how to run faster:

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