Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Am I doing this right?

Here's a question for all of you interval aficionados out there: How do I know I'm doing intervals correctly?

Today, for example, I did 7 X 400, with 400m walk breaks in between. My split times are as follows:
1. 2:14
2. 2:12
3. 2:11
4. 2:10
5. 2:08
6. 2:06
7. 2:04
(Wahoo! Negative split times!) Basically, my speed intervals were between an 8:13 - 8:34 mile. When I was finished, I felt tired, but not incredibly so. I felt like I still had a lot of energy left in me. I always thought that speed intervals are supposed to kick your trash (and I've done them before, just never by myself). At least that's what I remember from doing them with a trainer. My race pace is usually between a 9:30 - 9:45 mile. Should I take shorter breaks in between? Or should I bump up my speed and just run faster intervals?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sometimes I still feel like a newbie runner....

3 comments:

  1. Your splits for these look really good! I've read that your off interval should be no further than your on interval- so the 400 off would be max. I do 2 minutes off for 400 repeats, that was I can walk/jog as slow as I want, but I still start back up fairly quickly.
    (I do 3 mins off for 800's and 4 ins off for 1600's because I feel like I earn that extra minute with the extra distance!)

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  2. THIS is something that I need to get a lot more informed on myself.

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