The track… some of us may jump in excitement (like myself) in anticipation of the pain, suffering, monotony of endless circles, and some of us may cower in fear at the thought and come up with every excuse in the book. Truth in the matter, regardless of which you are, training on a track can improve your running by leaps and bounds (no pun intended) if done correctly. Although one can effectively train without visiting the dreaded oval, there is no environment like the track conducive to a quality interval session. You don’t need to visit the track every day to reap the benefits, just once a week is plenty, and if knowing doing this one thing will help improve your long distance running doesn’t motivate you to suck it up and suffer just once a week, than I don’t know what will.

There are four main groups of interval sessions – short, middle-distance, long, and mixed. Short intervals are typically 100-400 meter segments run at an all out or nearly all out pace with long (2-3x the duration of the interval) recovery periods.  These sessions will increase raw speed, stride power, and running economy – focus = SPEED.  Middle-distance intervals are typically 600-1200 meter segments and are run around a 5k-10k pace with a 3-5 minute recovery period.  These sessions will stress your body’s ability to consume oxygen building aerobic capacity, recycle lactate, and resist the physiological causes of running fatigue – focus = VO2 MAX.  Long intervals are typically 1600 meters (1 mile) to 3000 meters and are run around a 10k-Half Marathon pace, usually only a few repetitions completed with a shorter recovery similar to middle-distance intervals.  This pace tends to be close to or above lactate threshold for most runners, and training at or near threshold increases the body’s capacity to recycle lactate for muscle fuel, increasing your lactate threshold pace on a long-range spectrum – focus = LACTATE THRESHOLD.  Mixed intervals are exactly that, a group of two or more interval lengths explained above.  Because they do not have a single focus or specific intensity, they are not ideal for boosting specific running components and are usually most effective when used to maintain fitness in the final weeks of training before a race.

SHORT intervals

15 minute warm up

4x

400 m at 5k pace

200 m all out

*recovery time = 3x interval length between each

cool down

MIDDLE-DISTANCE intervals

15 minute warm up

5-7 x 800 m alternating 5k and 10k pace

*3 minute recovery between each

LONG intervals

15 minute warm up

3-4 x 1600 m at half marathon pace

*2 minute recovery between each

cool down

MIXED intervals

15 minute warm up

400 m (1 lap) at 5k pace

800 m (2 laps) at 5k pace

1200 m (3 laps) at 10k pace

1600 m (4 laps) at HM pace

1200 m at 10k pace

800 m at 5k pace

400 m at 5k pace

*400 meter easy recovery between each

cool down

[to shorten workout, stop at the top of the pyramid without descending back down]

 

Have fun, and learn to LOVE the track and all the pain that accompanies it :]