Question about Interval Training

[RowtheRockies]

I have recently added some interval training.

I have been doing 10 X 500M at my last 2K TT pace with equal rest. (1:45)

I have also been doing 3 X 2000m At my estimated 5K pace.

yesterday, I attempted to do 4 X 1000 at 2K TT pace with 4 minutes rest. I was able to do 3 but I really died the last 200M of the third 1000. I was unable to hold the pace and started dropping. It felt like the end of a hard 2K.

Would this be expected. I would think that I should be able to complete 4 X1000 with 4 minutes rest at 2K Pace. Are 1000M intervals meant to be done at a pace lower than 2K pace?

Rich

[hjs]

I have recently added some interval training.

I have been doing 10 X 500M at my last 2K TT pace with equal rest. (1:45)

I have also been doing 3 X 2000m At my estimated 5K pace.

yesterday, I attempted to do 4 X 1000 at 2K TT pace with 4 minutes rest. I was able to do 3 but I really died the last 200M of the third 1000. I was unable to hold the pace and started dropping. It felt like the end of a hard 2K.

Would this be expected. I would think that I should be able to complete 4 X1000 with 4 minutes rest at 2K Pace. Are 1000M intervals meant to be done at a pace lower than 2K pace?

4 x 1k r 4 at 2k pace is to hard. Almost no one can do that.
Next time start of at 2k plus 3 and just do the workout. Make sure the last is always the fastest. Take this as marker to work with.
Rich

[jjpisano]

I have recently added some interval training.

I have been doing 10 X 500M at my last 2K TT pace with equal rest. (1:45)

I have also been doing 3 X 2000m At my estimated 5K pace.

yesterday, I attempted to do 4 X 1000 at 2K TT pace with 4 minutes rest. I was able to do 3 but I really died the last 200M of the third 1000. I was unable to hold the pace and started dropping. It felt like the end of a hard 2K.

Would this be expected. I would think that I should be able to complete 4 X1000 with 4 minutes rest at 2K Pace. Are 1000M intervals meant to be done at a pace lower than 2K pace?

Rich

Rich:

Regarding 1k intervals, I know that some people when they do 1k intervals at 2k pace, they start each interval every 10 minutes. So say you're doing a 1k @ 1:45 pace, that means it'll take you 3:30 to do the interval and you can rest 6:30.

I think you'll be able to keep up 2k pace with more rest between intervals.
If you're trying to train lactic acid tolerance then maybe you can shorten up the rest period.

[igoeja]

I've extrapolated from reading Hagerman (http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... t=hagerman) on training the various systems, and fit it to the UK CII recommendations (http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/interactive.php).

- 5000M repeats, 70-80% Max HR (UT1), interval to recovery is 2:1
- 2000M repeats, 80-85% Max HR (AT), interval to recovery is 1:1
- 1000M repeats, 85-90% Max HR (TR), interval to recovery is 1:2
- 500M repeats, >= 90% (AN), interval to recovery is 1:3

My current best pace is 7:15 (1:49/500M), so I do the following:

- 5000M repeats @ 2:01 to 2:05
- 2000M repeats @ 1:55 to 2:00
- 1000M repeats @ 1:50 to 1:55
- 500M repeats @ <=1:49

I might have misinterpreted the pacing table, hence my slower paces for my targeted intervals, but I would assume that you need to give yourself more rest time, particularly for shorter intervals.

[NavigationHazard]

I have recently added some interval training.

I have been doing 10 X 500M at my last 2K TT pace with equal rest. (1:45)

I have also been doing 3 X 2000m At my estimated 5K pace.

yesterday, I attempted to do 4 X 1000 at 2K TT pace with 4 minutes rest. I was able to do 3 but I really died the last 200M of the third 1000. I was unable to hold the pace and started dropping. It felt like the end of a hard 2K.

Would this be expected. I would think that I should be able to complete 4 X1000 with 4 minutes rest at 2K Pace. Are 1000M intervals meant to be done at a pace lower than 2K pace?

Rich

In general, it seems that race-pace intervals with equal rest get increasingly harder the longer they are. Optimum for going the fastest the farthest appears to be about 30" on/30" off. Subjects in research studies have managed 2k pace or better for half an hour or more of work time at 30/30; I've done it myself, on multiple occasions. However if you try to row the same 30' work duration in longer intervals the difficulty mounts despite the longer time between them.

In my not inconsiderable personal experience with this, pace will drop by a second or so at 45/45. It will drop another second and a half or so at 60/60, another 1.5-2 seconds at 1:30/1;30, etc. Obviously the falloff rate is idiosyncratic. It probably will be somewhat different for others, depending on factors like experience with the workouts, fast-twitch vs. slow twitch muscle endowment, type and depth of training going in, etc. etc. etc. But the basic point remains the same -- the longer you try to go the harder it's going to be physiologically, and so something like pace has got to give.

In your specific case, I think

1) if you can do 10 x 500m @ race pace (equal rest), you probably ought to revisit your 2k trial. Quite likely you can go faster; and

2) 4 x 1k @ nominal race pace (nearly equal rest) is very tough and close to undoable. If you really could do it, to me it would mean that you ought to revisit your 2k. IMO, a more realistic target would be doing them at constant pace at something like 2k + 3 and 2k rating. Alternatively, you could consider lengthening the rest period. One way to do this is to monitor heart rate and start again when it's recovered to some arbitrary figure (typically 2 x normal resting rate). Or you could just try adding fixed amounts of time, say another minute to 90 seconds of rest. The difficulty with the last is that if the recoveries are too long, you'll undermine the physiological point of the workout.

Good luck with it, in any case.

[RowtheRockies]

Thank you all for the excellent information.

I guess my expectations for 1000M were unreasonable in doing 4 X at race pace with equal rest.

I will try doing them at 2K race pace +3 and see how that goes.

Thanks,

Rich

[Mike Caviston]

Since the 4 x 1K workout is the very core of the Wolverine Plan training program, I have written about it extensively in the past (pace, recovery, etc.) If you want further information I encourage you to find my previous posts regarding interval training on this forum as well as the UK forum.

Mike Caviston

[RowtheRockies]

Thanks Mike, I'll check it out!

Rich