Technology to Improve your Running: Interval Speedwork

Last week I talked about finding your maximum heart rate and how to apply it to your Long-Slow Distance runs:

https://gazelleintraining.blogspot.com/2020/04/technology-to-improve-your-running-long.html

Today, I'm going to touch on interval training.  Interval runs are probably the most important workout to you if you are looking to improve your finish times.  The typical structure of an interval workout is:

1. Warmup
2. Several iterations of high/low intensity effort
3. Cooldown

The main benefit from the higher intensity training is that it improves aerobic capacity to allow a person to exercise for longer periods with higher intensity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_training

https://support.polar.com/en/support/Overview_of_interval_training

Setting up a device to track your intervals is going to be specific to the device.  Personally, I usually don't pre-program workouts into my watch.  I keep an eye on distances and manually press the lap button.  This works great if you know your routes well, especially if you're running on a track which would be more accurate than your GPS anyways.

Plenty of people do program their watches with their workouts.  I can't list off every single watch, but here are links to a few different options.  If you are struggling to figure out your specific device, feel free to post in the Facebook group.  We can usually figure these things out together.

• Polar M400: https://support.polar.com/en/support/check_how_to_use_interval_timer_and_heart_rate_zones
• Garmin Forerunner 230/235: https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/forerunner235/EN-US/GUID-51E58923-AD73-48A0-A72A-6EBC29910DB8.html

To help you figure out how fast you should be pushing yourself, find the Indicator Run spreadsheet in the Facebook files section.  You can enter a 5k, 3k, or 1 mile time at the top and it will project estimated race times, training paces, and intervals.

For our speed work last week (4x800m repeats), I entered a recent 5k of mine and got an estimated interval time of 3:25.

Here is a link to my workout: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4827884112

Unlike the LSD run last week, can see much more pronounced increases/decreases in my heart rate.  While the LSD run is looking to help you maintain your status quo for a longer period, interval runs are where you intentionally push your body to a more uncomfortable pace that you aren't able to maintain.

"Hard' efforts are highlighted

In the four laps, I hit a Max HR of 168, 172, 174, and 175.  This translates to about 90-95% of my theoretical max which is right in the range of what I'm aiming for.  Pace-wise, I was a little ahead (3:14, 3:13, 3:11, 3:12) compared to the estimated 3:25.  I want to emphasize, here, that faster is not always better.  Pushing yourself harder than you are ready can lead to bad workouts and even injuries.

In this instance, this pace is pretty close to in line with my 5k PR, which is a few years old now, but isn't that far outside of a pace I am ready for.  Since the intervals were consistent, I will chalk that up as a win for me.  If these times were less consistent (10+ second spread) then that might mean I pushed myself too hard (or too easy) early in the workout.  You're really aiming to be as consistent as you can throughout the workout.

Something to also point out is that you need to be able to recover between intervals.  When I first started these workouts, I wasn't easing back enough between intervals, which caused my later efforts in the workout to always fall short.  Now, that doesn't mean you stop completely.  Here, I let my HR drop to around the 130 range between the intervals.