How fast/hard to go on intervals

[Dave_G1986]

Morning all,

Last night I did some intervals 1:00 on/1:00 rest. I found it pretty tough but it got me wondering. Did I go too hard? I wanted to complete at least 10 intervals but managed 7 and a half at my goal pace of 1:40 before I ran out of steam. I still completed 10 but the last 3 much slower. Recently I’ve been doing 6 x 500m/1:00r at 1:45 and 4 x 600m/1:20r at 1:45

Having recently PB’d my 5k, I now want something to improve my shorter times (2k, 1k, 500m). What other intervals could I be doing and what sort of target pace relative to my 2k pace should I be targeting?

[Dangerscouse]

Morning all,

Last night I did some intervals 1:00 on/1:00 rest. I found it pretty tough but it got me wondering. Did I go too hard? I wanted to complete at least 10 intervals but managed 7 and a half at my goal pace of 1:40 before I ran out of steam. I still completed 10 but the last 3 much slower. Recently I’ve been doing 6 x 500m/1:00r at 1:45 and 4 x 600m/1:20r at 1:45

Having recently PB’d my 5k, I now want something to improve my shorter times (2k, 1k, 500m). What other intervals could I be doing and what sort of target pace relative to my 2k pace should I be targeting?

Yes you did go too hard, but it's trial and error for what works. Slow it down by one second and see how that feels. I assume that will fairly comfortably get you through to the end, but then give the last rep all you've got. Following that you can make a more informed decision as to what the right pace is.

Are you doing enough base work? Is it just short intervals that you're doing? 2k is still quite an aerobic fitness effort, but you do need to get the stress inoculation from the sharper intervals too.

[hjs]

Morning all,

Last night I did some intervals 1:00 on/1:00 rest. I found it pretty tough but it got me wondering. Did I go too hard? I wanted to complete at least 10 intervals but managed 7 and a half at my goal pace of 1:40 before I ran out of steam. I still completed 10 but the last 3 much slower. Recently I’ve been doing 6 x 500m/1:00r at 1:45 and 4 x 600m/1:20r at 1:45

Having recently PB’d my 5k, I now want something to improve my shorter times (2k, 1k, 500m). What other intervals could I be doing and what sort of target pace relative to my 2k pace should I be targeting?

10 times 1/1 at max can be done roughly at 1k plus 1/2 seconds. And far below 2k pace. But if you have no recent times its tough.

If you take your 5k, your 2k could be around 6 seconds faster, and your 1k another 5/7 seconds.

In general though, if you do a new session and are doubt, you can use a first go as a “feeler” to give you an idea.

There are ofcourse no general rules how fast you “should” do sessions. But you need a certain intensity to get an effect.

[Dave_G1986]

Yes you did go too hard, but it's trial and error for what works. Slow it down by one second and see how that feels. I assume that will fairly comfortably get you through to the end, but then give the last rep all you've got. Following that you can make a more informed decision as to what the right pace is.

Are you doing enough base work? Is it just short intervals that you're doing? 2k is still quite an aerobic fitness effort, but you do need to get the stress inoculation from the sharper intervals too.

Maybe next time u do those I’ll target 1:41 and try to get all 10 done, i suppose I could increase rest and try for 1:40. Row intervals are roughly every 12 days so not that often really.

I’m currently doing every other day of the following:
Long steady run (approx 1 hour)
Interval row (mixing it up a bit as mention earlier)
Tempo run (approx 5-6km pretty hard)
Long steady row (approx 50 mins -to an 1 hour)
Interval run (random, normally Strava segments)
Tempo row (hard 4, 5 or 6km)

Ideally I’d do a bit doing more weights too at the gym but only doing the odd bit with the limited equipment I’ve got at home

[Dangerscouse]

Maybe next time u do those I’ll target 1:41 and try to get all 10 done, i suppose I could increase rest and try for 1:40. Row intervals are roughly every 12 days so not that often really.

I’m currently doing every other day of the following:
Long steady run (approx 1 hour)
Interval row (mixing it up a bit as mention earlier)
Tempo run (approx 5-6km pretty hard)
Long steady row (approx 50 mins -to an 1 hour)
Interval run (random, normally Strava segments)
Tempo row (hard 4, 5 or 6km)

Ideally I’d do a bit doing more weights too at the gym but only doing the odd bit with the limited equipment I’ve got at home

Good. If I was you I'd aim for a slightly slower pace and keep the rest the same, but I'm not a big fan of rests. This will also help bolster progress as it's directly comparable and there's no subtle differences that cloud the judgment.

[Dave_G1986]

Cheers Stu, will report back after I’ve tried again!

[Meek]

Question:
Your ‘on’ was at 1:40. What was your ‘off’ at? If the ‘off’ was too hard it would hurt repeatability.

[Dave_G1986]

Question:
Your ‘on’ was at 1:40. What was your ‘off’ at? If the ‘off’ was too hard it would hurt repeatability.

My rest minute is literally a rest minute. I paddle to a gradual stop after about 10 to 15 seconds and hopefully watch my HR come down! Occasionally I continue paddling but mostly put the handle down

[Tsnor]

Question:
Your ‘on’ was at 1:40. What was your ‘off’ at? If the ‘off’ was too hard it would hurt repeatability.

My rest minute is literally a rest minute. I paddle to a gradual stop after about 10 to 15 seconds and hopefully watch my HR come down! Occasionally I continue paddling but mostly put the handle down

Try to force yourself to keep paddling at any rate during the rest. It will keep blood flowing and help your body recover/rebuild. Goal here is simply to let body send fresh blood to the working parts as you catch up on your oxygen debt, and to get all of the byproducts of hard work away from your muscles to minimize the damage they do.

Your workout is not too hard if
(1) you are motivated to get back 2-3 days later and do it again
(2) you are only doing it 2X or 3X a week with at least a day rest in between

Your workout effort/results sounded fine to me. There are many ways to trade-off work volume and effort in intense work sessions.
(1) Slightly slowing the split on the 1 min workout as suggest above would be fine. You'll do all 10, get stronger and get back the the pace you are doing.
(2) Doing your current 7 out of 10 at your current pace then 3 at a slower pace is fine too. You'll end up doing 8 then 9 then all 10 at your current pace.
(3) Either way when you up up at 10 at your current pace then need to decide if you will grow your workload to 2 sets of 10, 1 set of 15 or stay at 10 and go harder.

Note also everyone has days when the effort level seems harder. LISTEN to your body and back off a bit.

Consider NEGATIVE SPLITS. Instead of a constant split rate do the first one a bit slower then you can, then do the next one a bit harder. Each one is a bit better. Try to end on your best.

BEST advice above is add long/slow "base" workouts to bracket your intense workouts. The workouts you describe are all at or near your max effort. The long/slow stuff is literally done at a pace where you can talk conversationally, about 60-70% max effort. For your spits, likely 2:30 or so pace, but you need to choose your personal pace where you can talk conversationally. The 2:30 is there so you can see it's slower than you think it is. Faster is *not* better for long/slow if it pushes you to increased lactate, you want the save higher lactate for your intense workloads.

[Cant Climb]

Morning all,

Last night I did some intervals 1:00 on/1:00 rest. I found it pretty tough but it got me wondering. Did I go too hard? I wanted to complete at least 10 intervals but managed 7 and a half at my goal pace of 1:40 before I ran out of steam. I still completed 10 but the last 3 much slower. Recently I’ve been doing 6 x 500m/1:00r at 1:45 and 4 x 600m/1:20r at 1:45

Having recently PB’d my 5k, I now want something to improve my shorter times (2k, 1k, 500m). What other intervals could I be doing and what sort of target pace relative to my 2k pace should I be targeting?

Easy thing to do - set a reasonable pace the first time in this session then use the rerow feature.
Start out reasonable then in future sessions chip away at a faster pace.
This will help you understand "perceived exertion' which will be one of your key barometer's as you get more experienced.

As other have said - I'm also not big on "static rest". Keep paddling and let the body learn to recover.

[MPx]

Just to offer the opposite view - I'm a fan of static rests, indeed I have to to recover if I'm going hard. I've tried active rests and I'm slower. On pace, don't over think it. You tried @ 1:40 and had to bail at 7, but you did the right thing in completing the 10. What was the average pace across all 10 reps? If it was say 1:42 or so, then start there next time and keep going through 9 then do the last as fast as you can. This should drop the Avg pace a bit to use next time and you can ratchet up from there each time. If it really feels too easy at half way then neg split from there, but be careful, in my experience it always gets tough around the 7th on.

[Dangerscouse]

Just to offer the opposite view - I'm a fan of static rests, indeed I have to to recover if I'm going hard. I've tried active rests and I'm slower.

I think I might have been misunderstood. I always do complete rest, never active rests, I'm just not (usually) a fan of much longer than two minutes rest.

[Dave_G1986]

Just to offer the opposite view - I'm a fan of static rests, indeed I have to to recover if I'm going hard. I've tried active rests and I'm slower. On pace, don't over think it. You tried @ 1:40 and had to bail at 7, but you did the right thing in completing the 10. What was the average pace across all 10 reps? If it was say 1:42 or so, then start there next time and keep going through 9 then do the last as fast as you can. This should drop the Avg pace a bit to use next time and you can ratchet up from there each time. If it really feels too easy at half way then neg split from there, but be careful, in my experience it always gets tough around the 7th on.

I was actually slightly quicker than I said originally. I think my target was 1:40 but was coming in slightly quicker. I like that idea though of starting at 1:42 and doing negative splits if it’s in the tank

[MPx]

Ahhh, OK Dave, I think a slightly different problem here. As you get close to your personal "level" very small differences in result are significant in effort over these 1min reps. Coincidentally you're currently very much at my standard....but since this is your first you will soon move on! I've been doing the 10x1 1r every six weeks ish for years. My "base" is 300m reps (1:40). Last time out I did 301s and got a faster last. Last summer when I was at a cyclical peak I almost managed a set at 305, but missed the 9th. I've been nowhere near it again since. It doesn't seem like much difference but you can see that even 303 means a 1:39 pace not 1:40. Looking at the results, if you actually aimed for 300m reps (1:40) from the off, I think you'd be able to knock out 10. My tip would be to concentrate on the projected meters as the pace changes about 3 times quicker and is much harder to hit a target number.

Neg split works for some, so by all means try that - but I think you can nail this off a 9x flat and a fast last.

Best of luck...

[MPx]

I think I might have been misunderstood....

My mistake Stu I don't remember seeing any rest on your training other than a couple of minutes between HIIT HMs