I haven’t been doing much running lately and when I have it’s been pretty slow, but I’ve just got back from a nice lunchtime run.
I decided to do a VO2 Max interval session. I did it exactly the same as last time which seemed just about right pace wise:
- 5 min warm up (no Target Pace / Heart Rate)
- Main Set: 5x
- 0.3 miles Hard - Target pace of 9.3 – 9.6 mph (6:15 – 6:30 mins / mile)
- 3 mins Recovery – No target
- Followed by 3 minute cool down
It felt even better today. I was a little faster on the hard intervals, averaging a pace of 6:16 per mile as opposed to 6:20 – In fact, my Garmin watch was telling me to slow down much of the time. I also kept the pace up a bit higher during the recovery periods as well (average pace of 7:27 rather than 7:40). All in all, that’s a good improvement and means it’s time to ‘up the ante’.
I have several options here:
- Decrease the duration of the rest intervals. I don’t think I’ll go for this as that will decrease the overall length of the run and I want to work towards some longer runs.
- Increase the distance of the hard intervals. This is a good option as it will work on both speed and stamina.
- Increase the number of intervals. This is probably my preferred option as it will also work on speed and stamina and the 0.3 mile hard intervals sem about right at the moment.
- Increase the target pace of the hard intervals. A good option, but one that will be working purely on speed rather than stamina, and the pace I’ve set at the moment seems to work well for me.
I think therefore that I’ll add another interval on next time taking me up to 6 intervals in the set. Once I can do that OK, I’ll move up to 7 intervals and when (if?) I can comfortably do that, I’ll then start increasing the distance of those intervals.
Who knows if I’ll ever get that far, but it should be fun (mixed in with some pain) trying.