Intervals for Masters Runners: What Do You Do?

I'm 64 and it takes me a good 4 -5 days to feel right after a really hard interval session.

When I was 54 I was still able to run 200's/300's/400's at about 5:00-5:15 pace but recovery was longer. I would suggest running more days but the "extra" days real easy 3 miles or so.

I’ll be turning 50 in a month. I still do intervals once per week. Either 200s, 400s or 800s, depending on what distance I’m training for. But I don’t do them to the point of near-collapse. I tend to keep the fast portions more controlled, but keep the rest portions a little shorter and faster.

I always end up injured. Last hard int wo 12x200 pulled calf on 11

I'm 49 and if I were going to do any type of "all-out" workout, it would be on a hill because I think the injury risk is much lower.

10*400 at mile pace with 200 m recovery is not something I'd ever consider.

Did 12 x .25 yesterday with short jog on a secluded road. I'm 71. Not super hard but hard enough. Yes, I was in my "super shoes." LOL. Will mix it up with the distances, usually every week or two but try for around 3 miles of speed work since all I do now are 5k's.

Usually try to do something hard every Sunday when I'm not racing.

As another poster has said, it takes me 4-5 days to recover.

At this point, I am used to doing these workouts alone but it would be helpful if a few people were around; like in the past.

I would suggest you keep doing something once per week and maybe add a few more miles into your week.

Good luck!

I'm 67 and can't do the really fast stuff consistently any more without great injury risk, but still utilize relaxed strides every other day (year round) and find it helps me retain as much speed as I am able. I do intervals, but never at 100%. I'll save that for races as most likely I limp away! 200's are big with me.

57 and yeah, I still do them weekly as I’m building up for a big race. Not at 100% effort because no matter how old you are, you don’t do your intervals at 100%. Save those efforts for races, but that’s a different discussion. I have to be careful because the shorter the interval, it seems that there is a greater chance of straining something. I’ve found that a good substitute for the shorter stuff is hill repeats. It’s too bad, as I get older, I like the hard work more and more, but you just can’t do it as much as you’d like.

At 58, I run workouts at a range of paces from easy tempo to 200s significantly faster than 800 race pace. I think the key is to be smart about the volume at each pace. whereas you could run 20% of your weekly volume at threshold or tempo, your idea of running 3 of your 25 miles/week at mile pace is probably asking for trouble.

I think Daniels suggests something like 3% of your volume at faster than VO2max. Tinman's training is pretty good for masters runners, and he seems to favor nothing more than a few faster 200s at the end of CV workouts, often at mile pace, and only occasionally at 800 pace.

I think there's pretty broad consensus that a little bit of really fast stuff goes a long way. So no need to red-line in workouts.

I am 57 now... but was a true gut-buster in track workouts. I still believe in them. You need to get your body ready for the type of strain a race puts on you. That being said, I keep the distance low. in my 20-40s, I would do 3-4M of speed. Now I limit it to 2-2.5M. However, I still keep the effort relative. It should be faster than 5K pace. Nothing too drastic. If you are running 6:00 pace for a 5K then you should run your 800s in 2:50 (or so).

Sir, this is a Wendy's

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I think in general training philosophy is moving away from "gut-busting, lung-heaving intervals." The juice isn't worth the squeeze on it. This is even more the case for masters runners.

My recommendation is to combine volume at threshold (1ks @ HM-10k pace) or shorter tempos around those paces with long strides like 150m-300m at mile pace or a bit faster. These could be on different days or even on the same day.

The threshold intervals move your fitness and the long strides keep you in touch with your speed.

Save the hard efforts for the racing.

i got this...

I should add that I broke 5:00 for the mile when I was 48. I could never do it again. It seems that even the training was tough.

I DID to a 5:15 in my early 50's.

But, my mistake was that, back then basically all I did was run. I generally skipped the plyos and didn't stretch enough (I had a family and was teaching and coaching and fit in what I can).

I'm 58 and coming off major knee surgery 3y ago. I train mainly so I can pace my 8th grade daughter, who is a ~2:40 800m runner (with good leg speed). I do long (~70 sec) and short (~40 sec) dirt hills each about once a week, and tolerate both quite well. 2-3 other days are comfortable~35 min trail runs. When I run with my daughter, we might do 6-8 x 200 at 38-39 w/150 jog, or 3-4 x 400 at 78, with 300 jog. I am usually beat up the next day (and she laughs at me!). Honestly, though, it is the weekly hill work that allows me to run the track sessions at that pace. Last spring I couldn't do the 200's under ~41-42, and the only difference is this year I am doing the hills.

62 yo. When weather turns warmer I focus on shorter races, 2 mi up to 10km. I like doing step down step up repeats on the track (mile, 1200, 800, 800, 1200 , mile), mile repeats, fartlek, and hill repeats. Nothing outrageous and no all out sprints, those just seem to invite injury.

Liftime runner who frequently did "about to dry-heave" intervals.

Would do hard interval sessions until about 60-years-old. Now 66 and have switched more to EIM (Easy Interval Method), where I can do three of four interval sessions per week as they aren't as hard - typical would be 16x200m in 40-41, with 200m jog; 12x400 at around 5k pace or a bit quicker, with 400m at just over 8 min mile recovery; 6x1000m at 10k pace with 800m at just over 8 min mile recovery.

Ran sub 5 mile or 1500m equivalent up to about 53 (haven't raced one since, but based on 3000m and 5k times would have been in 5:42-5:45 type shape last year).

Ohh good, my approach at 49 isn't too far off base.

A couple of my weekly routes have some great hills, but then I started adding a weekly track workout until I got achilles soreness in left and metatarsalgia in right. :D I don't think directly a result of my track work outs.

On track I keep intervals between 600-1200 and nothing much faster than my all out mile. Also not much rest, usually just a 200 jog between. Approach is I really don't want to be doing a serious interval workout, but I need to do something weekly close to my all out mile or it will keep slipping and then that will cause my 5k to Half mile pace to slip too.