Cruise Intervals - doing it right?

Pace/rest is about right for an 18:30 runner if they were Ks rather than 1500s.

the pace is too fast for your level. 4'05/km looks more accurate for your LT pace.

If you want to do it at 10k pace like you did, take 2-3' rest for a 6' effort.

That’s super helpful.

Maybe I am slamming my workouts harder than I should be? Last week I ran 6x1k at 3:35 pace off 2’30 walk rest.

This might be a stupid question. But what’s the downside of pushing workouts hard? I can’t run more than about 60km per week because of family commitments, so gentler workouts wouldn’t allow me to increase volume...

is 18:30 a recent PR? is it your current shape?

If it is, then the 6x1k workout is a little too fast indeed. Should be around 3'40/3'45 is you are in 18'20-18-45 shape.

Running too hard on workouts is never good for several reasons. You do not teach your body to feel confortable and relaxed at the race pace but rather to struggle at a pace you cannot hold for the length of the race which often result in starting the race too fast and doing huge positive splits.

You use too much the anaerobic system while it is not the point of the workout.

You generate additional fatigue and increase risk of injury while the purpose of training is improving while staying healthy.

It has nothing to do with your weekly volume.

What can be adjusted if you feel really fresh but cannot train more is adding a little more volume in the workouts and running easy days a little faster. But usually you don't want to get exhausted after a run unless you train only 3x times a week and have plenty of rest days.

Lot of good answers here.

3:55/km is probably closer to CV pace. 6x4 minutes at CV pace is acceptable, but on the high end of the spectrum for what you’d want to do in a workout. When guys like Hunter do stuff at CV, they are doing something like 8x3 minutes for 24 total minutes. or they do less than that and tag on a little race pace stuff at the end. So, you got 24 min at CV, a pro level stimulus.

4:05/k seems about right for a session that you can keep coming back to regularly. As you get fitter, you can add on a 7th k, or add on few 400s at estimates 3k pace

If you think the paces are too slow, run a time trial to establish a new baseline.

This is so helpful. I usually hurt at the end of workouts, but could probably do one more if I had a gun to my head. That was my benchmark. But sounds like a need to tone it down. I may be faster than 18:30 - that was last Summer, but I think not much.

One more question (should maybe be a separate thread):

What are the downsides of running workouts in ‘slow’ shoes?

I do my workouts in my regular trainers: Nike Infinity or Saucony Guide. I race in VFs.

I don’t really want to use the VF to do workouts in. Both because it is expensive and because as a pronator they are not stable so I worry on injury risk.

Running in regular trainers for a workout just makes you faster when you put on racing shoes right? Or is there a reason to buy special light shoes for workouts?

running fast workouts with heavy trainers can lead to injury since the mobility of the ankle is reduced.

Also running with racing flat/spikes improves running form and strength of the feet/ankle/calves.

I would buy inexpensive racing shoes for workouts if I were you.

Impala31 wrote:

running fast workouts with heavy trainers can lead to injury since the mobility of the ankle is reduced.

Also running with racing flat/spikes improves running form and strength of the feet/ankle/calves.

I would buy inexpensive racing shoes for workouts if I were you.

A lot of good advice in this thread, but I am going to disagree with this post. With this logic, you would do every run in flats... but we know that is not best practice.

My lower legs (especially calves/achilles) always hurt more when I strap on flats or spikes to work out - compared to regular trainers. I would stick to trainers right now. As you get closer to a racing season, start wearing flats to get used to them and help with the faster paces. Even during the season, I wear trainers for tempo runs and cruise intervals.

cruising wrote:

I’m an 18:30 5k runner. Run about 50-60km a week. I’ve never done cruise intervals, but want to work on speed endurance, so gave it a go.

I ran 4x1500m at 3:55 pace with 1 minute jog (covering about 200m). Does this sound like a good pace and good rest? I was able to hold the pace ok, but the 1 min rest felt short, especially as there was no walking.

Advice welcome!

It`s close to best target pace for you( 3:58 min/ km ) when running cruise intervals /LT intervals , but instead of jogging 200m between just walk easy back to 120 bpm heartrate ( or roughly 60 % of MHR ) . Test it , you will like it.

Run 5 x 1000 to match your 5k distance.

Keep the pace at 4:00 on each.

BUT, each time you do this set, decrease your rest amount by 10 seconds, and holding the same pace.

When you can do all 5 at 4:00 with only 30 seconds rest you know your body has adapted to the training load and you should be able to run a 16:40 for your 5k race.

Working hard and working smart are NOT mutually exclusive.

retired swimming coach wrote:

Run 5 x 1000 to match your 5k distance.

Keep the pace at 4:00 on each.

BUT, each time you do this set, decrease your rest amount by 10 seconds, and holding the same pace.

When you can do all 5 at 4:00 with only 30 seconds rest you know your body has adapted to the training load and you should be able to run a 16:40 for your 5k race.

Working hard and working smart are NOT mutually exclusive.

Seriously? So if I can run a 20min 5k with rests I am ready to run 16:40....?! Yeah ok.

MY SINCERE APOLOGIES!!! I misread the post and meant to reference 5 x 1200s, not 1000s repeat distance.

You are correct that 4:00 1000s will not yield a 16:40 5k.

retired swimming coach wrote:

Run 5 x 1000 to match your 5k distance.

Keep the pace at 4:00 on each.

BUT, each time you do this set, decrease your rest amount by 10 seconds, and holding the same pace.

When you can do all 5 at 4:00 with only 30 seconds rest you know your body has adapted to the training load and you should be able to run a 16:40 for your 5k race.

Working hard and working smart are NOT mutually exclusive.

I don`t recommend a decreasing in rest like this. It`s against natural body laws. You shouldn`t press your body like this. You got to know that the recovery is at least as important as the effort!

Listen to your body. It needs perfect individual rest, and the need for rest time increase the more reps you run.

- Summer of J.S -

If your lower legs are really painful after using flats/spikes that's because of your trainers, not because of the flats. If you only run in high drop, high cushioned trainers, Achille, ankle and calves tighten, get weak and not flexible. And a soon as you wear flat, the lack of flexibity and stengh causes pain because it becomes too much stress to go from 10m drop and 30m stack height to 0-6mm drop and 5-20mm stack height, especially if you are not used to doing it.

A little pain is good and shows stimulus and then adaptation. A strong pain means it was too brutal of a change.

That is why I never spend a whole week without running in flat/spikes/barefoot.

Remember Africans used to run barefoot all the time (even in marathon races sometimes).

You are underestimating the body's ability to adapt to training loads with reduced rest. It is the very requirement to work UNDER-RECOVERED that results in the improvement.

Of course when runners are training anaerobically they need more rest between repeats in order to recover enough to stimulate anaerobic improvement.

A short rest set is designed to stress the body aerobically for an aerobic race like the 5k.

I would recommend you try it yourself and with your runners over a 6-8 week period and see how it works. Swimmers have used this strategy successfully since the late 60s, and I have found it successful for the runners I have coached.

If someone runs year around running intervals too hard it will result in peaking too early in the season. Unless the runner is a robot, he will still have control of his race strategy.

But do it trying to hold a 10k pace for all 5 repeats, rather than a 5 k pace.

retired swimming coach wrote:

You are underestimating the body's ability to adapt to training loads with reduced rest. It is the very requirement to work UNDER-RECOVERED that results in the improvement.

Of course when runners are training anaerobically they need more rest between repeats in order to recover enough to stimulate anaerobic improvement.

A short rest set is designed to stress the body aerobically for an aerobic race like the 5k.

I would recommend you try it yourself and with your runners over a 6-8 week period and see how it works. Swimmers have used this strategy successfully since the late 60s, and I have found it successful for the runners I have coached.

The thing is that the body doesn`t like this kind of reduced rest and often responds with overtraining symtom or injury. The runners I have coached with the other way to see it, to give the body the exact best individual rest it needs have run 1:46 at 800m , 3: 39 at 1500m , 13:29 at 5000m , 27:43 at 10 k , 1:00:23 at half and 2:07:38 at marathon. I think it tells something.....?

Have you really ever tried including short rest interval work in your training on a regular basis (like twice a week for a whole season) for aerobic improvement? I am not familiar with any track or xc coaches or programs that do, so please let me know of those that do.

I find that when your rest intervals are short the repeat intensity is not nearly as high as with high rest anaerobic work so I have not had issues with overtraining using this strategy.

I have not coached nearly as many successful runners as you have, of course, but the ones who have done and are doing short rest work with me all say it makes them in the best aerobic shape of their life.

In my limited non-swim coaching time, I did coach a runner to a 13:23 5k, and a speed skater to the US Olympic team using short rest interval training, and it is a staple of the training strategy for most every swim program in the country.

So I sincerely encourage any track coach I talk with to try adding short rest interval work to their training protocol and see how it can improve their already successful program.