Ahhh, interval training.
For the love part of this relationship, the only way to get faster is to run and to run fast. Makes sense.
Another pro is that after running fast, you get to run slowly for an interval of time. I like that.
Now for the hate part. You have to run really fast for a long period of time. I initially started off running 5 x 400 m intervals. This wasn't so bad. I was averaging 4:20 min/km (about 13.5 km/hr) but after talking to a veteran friend of mine she mentioned that 400 m intervals were too short for marathon training and that I should step it up to 800 m intervals. So I thought I would try that. I decided to start off with 3 x 800 m Wow. Those are tough. As a non-runner friend of mine stated - you can't run all out for 800 m. How truthful that statement was. I thought I was gauging my energy and time right but after 500 m I was losing steam quickly. A weird feeling is when your legs either feel like complete mush or they are numb. You gaze down just to make sure they are still running and just hope they can hang on for the remaining 300 m. Then you get that rush of lactic acid and the pain and stiffness follow. Interval training really is a strategic event - making sure you are running fast enough to get the benefits of that vs. making sure you can sustain that speed for a decent amount of time without losing consistency or stamina.
However, the net outcome of this is that short term pain really pays off in the long run (haha) for serious gain. Last week I was doing my weekly long run (23 km) and decided to run 1 min below race pace (5:30 min/km) for the last 2 kms and I was actually able to do it. This was purely due to interval training.
Of all the different types of runs I do during the week; long run, recovery run (x2), tempo run and interval training, interval training is by far the hardest workout for me to get out there and do. Its funny, it is always the shortest run but is always the hardest (mentally) to do.
Today is Sunday - long run day. The weather is gorgeous outside, full sunshine, warm and little to no wind perfect fall day. This is my second last long run (today will be 26 km) before I start to taper down. I am hoping to average 6:30 min/km about what I hope will be my race pace. This should comfortably allow me to run the marathon under 5 hours even allowing for some slow down in my last 10 km. I can't believe I'm already in week 17 of my training plan! I have so far logged 570 km and am feeling great! Can't wait for October 27th to roll around so I can see all of my hard training pay off!
