Interval Training

Today I started interval training, which will not only help me prepare for my half marathon in October, but also increasing my pace for the 8.8 km run in May. The notion of interval training is quite simple. You combine sprints and normal running. You can think of a sprint as running at your maximum heart rate, whereas normal running is at 60-65% of your maximum heart rate.

You start of by slowly warming up at normal speed. Then you proceed with the first interval, a sprint where your heart rate stays at 100% for about 3 minutes. The second interval takes about 5 minutes where you keep your heart rate at about 60-65%. You usually do about 3 sprints and finish your run with a 10 minute interval.

That's the theory! I did it a little different, since my distance is 8.7 km, which doesn't go with these intervals. I'd knock myself out completely if I did it this way. Another thing is the 65% heart rate (for me 115), which meant I'd have to walk! Even if I'm running really slowly I cannot get below 130. So my modification of interval training goes as follows: I keep my heart rate at 160-165 (84-86%) during normal running. During my sprints I try to run as fast as possible until I hit 175 (93%) and then slow down again. As soon as I reach the 160-165 I start sprinting again.

This way I did about 10 sprints (honestly I didn't count) during the 8.7 km. I finished the run in 45:05 minutes with an average heart rate of 166. It's too early to say if it'll work out, but I can say that I like it!