Time to up the Running Ante with Sprint Reps...

I may have mentioned earlier that my running endurance is coming along fine, but my speed isn't really much faster over 8-10k, than it is over 13-15k (which is currently my "long" run), and my 5k time is only slightly faster then my 8-10. 


So with this in mind, i thought it was time i inserted some interval training or sprint reps into my week.


Well Tuesday night was the night...Friday evening had seen 2k done in the pool, Saturday arvo a nice 15k run was done, and Monday morning i'd cranked a fairly hard 40k out on the bike...


So, the sprints...i'd just worked out how to get set my Garmin up for interval training...i thought the following would be a good place to start:

• Warm up - of my choosing
• 10 x 1:00 sprint / 1:00 recover 
• Cool down - the jog home...

The warm up was about 1500m at 5:30min/k pace...then i hit go!

The first 5 by 1:00 sprints netted about 260-270m, with the pace being:

1. 3:50
2. 3:52
3. 3:53
4. 3:49
5. 3:43

I was rather impressed with my start...

The 6th interval was a no go due to too much traffic on the foot bridge, and the 7th was a 3:55...after that however, it began to fall apart...

I was only able to hold sprints 8 - 11 for 30 seconds or thereabouts (yeah, i know 11 not 10...i mistook the "you've finished" beep the "go" beep)...but having a look at the data, they were at a quicker pace. 9 peaked at 3:10, with 8, 10, 11 peaking in the 3:20's.

At the time and afterwards the workout felt fantastic and definitely be something i'll do on a regular basis.  I think i just need to work on controlling my pace and mix up the duration of the sprint and rest intervals.

Happy Training!!