My school doesn't have a winter track or running program. I was going to do some interval work in the winter and just curious what the recovery time between intervals is best. Last spring we took 90 secs between 400's, and this fall we took 3 mins between 800's.
Recovery in relation to repetition speed and length.
Interval workouts are designed to accomplish different things.
Intervals at harder effort usually have a longer recovery in proportion to the repetition. Lower the effort, lower the recovery.
Depends what the aim of the session is. Basic rule : take no more recovery than is necessary to complete the pre-determined number of reps at the desired pace.
Intervals at, say XC pace will as a general rule require very little recovery eg 6x1000m @ best XC pace could be accomplished with less than 60 sec. recovery. However , 6x300m @ 800m pace will require , say , 90 sec recovery (unless you're Seb Coe who apparently did this with well under 60sec recovery.
As long as you do the number of reps you set out to do at more or less even pace and end the session on your knees feeling slightly ill you can't go far wrong.
hsrunner?/????? wrote:
My school doesn't have a winter track or running program. I was going to do some interval work in the winter and just curious what the recovery time between intervals is best. Last spring we took 90 secs between 400's, and this fall we took 3 mins between 800's.
FYI
The interval in interval training refers to the REST period
Buy and read Daniels running formula. It's best feature is the way work/rest ratios are easy to figure out. I was a clueless runner until I read it because work/rest ratios were often a mystery or imprecisely defined. Then Use Jack's online calculator to find training paces based on a recent race (not goal pace, an actual result)
http://www.runsmartproject.com/calculator/
Repetition: equal distance recovery with no time restrictions. 400s & 200s. Example: 400m repeats with 400m jog recoveries in between. hard running is 5% weekly mileage.
Interval: equal time recovery. work time should be in the 4-5 minute range. typically 800-1200m. Example: 1200m repeats with a 400m jog that is limited to the time it took to run 1200m. hard running is 7-8% weekly mileage.
Threshold: 1 min recovery for each mile you run. Example 4x1 mile with 60s recovery, 2x 2 miles with 120s recovery. hard running is 10% weekly mileage.
You also infer from his notes and guidelines that a full workout on the track (including recovery) is typically 8-10% of weekly mileage, often maxing out at 10k.