Tuesday August 3, 2010

The First Speed Session

First session results

Following my short term speed program, I went out for my first interval session yesterday. Let's just say that after I got started I realised that my initial plan was going to need revision...  What was originally in the plan for the day was:
5x 1km on 4m30s (aim for 1km in 4min with 30 seconds rest)

Well... I now know what it feels like to run 4min/km pace, and I couldn't hold it for a km! I got to 700m on the first one and was about to fall over, so decided to change things up a bit. New plan:

4x 700m aiming for 4-4m30s/km pace (and rest until heart rate gets back down to about 115). 

I managed to get through 4 of those, and discovered the difference between 4min/km pace and 4m30s/km pace feels quite substantial! Check out my split and heart rate data from my Garmin 405 below:

After that session I revisited my plan and changed a few of the interval workouts. I expect I will need to change them further as I work through them, but it's a starting point until I have a better idea what I am capable of. 

If you have any comments please drop me a line.

Kia kaha!

 

 

 

 

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Comments on this article:
Submitted by Nina - August 4, 2010
That is great advice - thanks Matthew.

I have to say I don't know much about VO2max thresholds, so that's good to know (and I think I need to do some more reading on this). I like your advice and next time I'll do the full 1km and make sure I am getting a decent rest between each interval.
Submitted by Matthew Cox - August 4, 2010
Hi, good work. I think you will start to notice the effects of this type of training in 2 - 3 weeks. I am certain you will smash 20 min for 4.5 km. I am no expert but I have a couple of comments. Your results show that you are certainly capable of running at 4min/km. I think you should keep your aim of running your intervals at 4 min/km but I think you may benefit from extra rest time between the intervals, thirty seconds is probably not enough at the moment. You should probably consider something like 2 to 3 minutes initially and then look to reduce this time as you get more comfortable. Definitely try to do a whole km this will mean more time spent at VO2max. It is time spent at VO2max which ultimately improves VO2max. This means that within a 1km rep it takes about 2 min to get to VO2max. If you are running at 4min/km then thats approx 2 min at VO2max. Personally, I find that 4 x 5min or 5 x 5min with ample rest (5 min between each) gives more bang for your buck. ie 4 x 5 min means 4 x 2min getting to VO2 max and a total of 12 min at VO2 max. 4 x 5min (@3:20pace) is equivalent to about 6 x 1km reps but if they were run as such then it would be 6 x 2min (total 12 min) getting to VO2max and then only a total of 8 min spent at VO2max. Anyway just some things to consider but I would definitely increase your rest time between intervals (I just do a standing (actually usually bent over heaving!!) recovery but some people jog - most the time I am trying not to puke!).