THE BENEFIT OF INTERVALS

hi all,

i work for the denver post--as a sports photo editor--but i also contribute to the post's travel section blog, "free range," which is all things western (and beyond). my last post was about kayaking the green river through labyrinth & stillwater canyons: http://blogs.denverpost.com/travel/2012/04/25/sea-kayaking-utahs-gr... just so you can get some idea of what the site looks like.

earlier i posted a piece about running: http://blogs.denverpost.com/travel/2012/03/21/cool-running-special-...

what i'd like to do is write a piece about interval training.....6 x 15 steep hill repeats, 6 x 30's (i call them rollin' 30's) and best of all the 2 x 6's & 6 x 1's. god love 'em all.

anyway, i've heard the benefits of intervals for years and of course i feel them and all the good they do for me but i'd like to hear from other runners about them and possibly a professional opinion or two about what intervals really do as far as conditioning, fat burning, mental state. etc.

thank you,

dean

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Permalink Reply by Paul Weeks on May 18, 2012 at 2:55pm

I think that part of the idea is to repeatedly take your muscle cells past their aerobic limit, so that they respond by building more of the structures they need to increase their aerobic limit - more mitochondria, more respiratory enzymes, more capacity for dealing with lactate, and so on. But I'm remembering this fairly hazily so double check!

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Permalink Reply by dean krakel on May 19, 2012 at 8:13am

thanks paul

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Permalink Reply by Lori Enlow on May 19, 2012 at 3:14pm

Personally they have increased my overall endurance and speed. I was always sort of a "slow twitch" muscle fiber runner...if that makes any sense. My body was geared and knew how to run slow forever. Since starting intervals my body is learning how to run fast...or at least fast for me. Intervals recruit "fast twitch" fibers and also fatigue muscles requiring recruitement of accessory muscles and stabilizers strengthening the whole core. I've noticed since doing intervals I have more defined core muscle groups. I am becoming a stronger, more well rounded runner. Mentally it teaches me to push through.

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Permalink Reply by dean krakel on May 19, 2012 at 3:17pm

hey lori thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Jakub Václavovič on July 20, 2012 at 12:49am

I agree with A. Lydiard. His training philosophy was: a lot of aerobic runs in first base, 4 weeks of strength work followed by a maximum of 4 weeks of anaerobic training before important race. He used this for 800 metres athlete but a marathoner too.