I'm older (38) than many of you and typically don't get to interval pace very easily, even after a 20-30 min progressive warmup. I also don't do intervals often and ran decent mileage all summer (avg of 70-75, max of 85, min of 65).
Need to get used to running a bit fast, trying to run a 5K at just under 6 min pace (slow for you I know).
So I tried a 200-400-600-800-1000-800-600-400-200 with 60-90-120-150-180-150-120-90 second rest after the reps.
Thought I'd use the up part to warm-up (all at sub 6 but barely) and the down part to really work on speed. Ran the following:
200 in 44s @ 5:52 pace
400 in 1:27 @ 5:49 pace
600 in 2:11 @ 5:52 pace
800 in 2:54 @ 5:51 pace
1000 in 3:43 @ 5:59 pace
800 in 2:53 @ 5:49 pace
600 in 2:09 @ 5:45 pace
400 in 1:22 @ 5:28 pace
200 in 36s @ 4:52 pace
Went pretty hard on the final 6-4-2.
Is that a good workout or minimal benefit for someone who does NOT run intervals often? That's still 5k worth of intervals at target pace or faster, but perhaps broken out too easily? or too much rest? Seemed way easier than 3 x 1 mi, 6 x 800, but perhaps a bit harder than a 12 x 400.
Interested in any comment. Based on the above a sub 18:30 will hurt. This is sad (I ran a 1:20 half) but I am a bit heavier now, due to my love for pizza (legs are better but body move slower than when I ran the 1:20 last year...about 10lbs heavier)