400 Meter Intervals

09 Saturday May 2015

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I can’t remember the last time I ran on a track. Maybe a time around this photo in the early ’80s. I ran on the Niwot High School track today. In between rain showers. I ran 4×400 meter intervals. I would tell you I’m working on my speed for the Bolder Boulder, but I suspect I’ve lost focus and am now working on my speed to stay competitive on the Shoes & Brews 800 meter beer board.

Intervals are great for increasing your anaerobic threshold. I want that too but am more interested in the benefits of form and breathing technique. The conditioning ironically comes from the rest interval, not waiting for your heart to fully rest before starting the next repetition. But I want the practice of the 400 meter run itself. Running fast while tired.

I thought, hoped really, I could run between 4 and 8 of these, and run them each in 90 seconds. I’m running this fast in my Shoes & Brews 800 meter runs, so I knew this was within my limits. Turns out, I ran my first two 400s in 91 seconds. Spot on. I didn’t time my rest but walked just short of 200 meters, which is what I generally did when I was younger. It became evident after these two that I wasn’t going to run eight. Ran my 3rd though in 90 seconds and 4th in 87 seconds.

I’m pleased with that consistency. All the memories of running these in high school and college came flooding back. Chasing Joe Cepeda around the oval. Not feeling anything for the first 20 or 30 meters because my heart is still beating so fast from the previous interval. And how important arm form is. Attention to a good arm swing totally helps to carry you around the track through the fatigue. I initially thought those 800 meter speed trials would be good for me, but they don’t provide enough repetition to learn good form. Once a week isn’t the same as 4 times in one workout. It’s like anything else, repetition is the key to learning.

Telephone Pole Intervals

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

intervals, Shoes and Brews, speed workout

It’s time I publish my workout. This will make me rich. To prep for the Bolder Boulder, in order to best my 41:11 from 1990 in a race against time, I’ve been running intervals. Telephone pole intervals. No one else does this.

An interval workout consists of running repetitions, such as 8 x 400 meters, at perhaps 75% full speed for the distance; but the emphasis is on the rest interval. You don’t allow your heart rate to fully recover before starting the next repetition.

Coaches would have you run a defined distance, 400 or 800 meters. My favorite in college were mile intervals. I could run four or five of them averaging 4:40 per mile. I could maybe run mile intervals now at a 6:40 pace. Maybe. But not by myself and that’s the point. There’s no way I could run such an intense interval workout by myself. I’d need the support of a team to run alongside of me and push me.

My telephone pole intervals are a much shorter distance. Actually, I’m not sure of the length. I run for two poles, then jog super slow for one pole, and repeat. I’m guessing these poles are spaced about 100 meters apart. Probably a little less. And I don’t time myself. I start out at about a 60% pace of what I could sprint the distance to the first pole, then increase my pace to 80% all out to the second pole. This provides for somewhat of a warmup so that I don’t hurt myself.

The primary objective of intervals is to increase anaerobic threshold levels and your body’s ability to run depleted of oxygen. Supposedly your body adapts to running in oxygen debt. I’m probably not getting much of this anaerobic benefit since I am running such a short distance, but my focus is really more on teaching my legs to run fast and form. Muscles have to be trained. I don’t want to simply run sprints, because I would probably hurt myself. Plus, I’m running this as part of my 8 mile runs. After my 4 mile turn-around, between 83rd St. and Ogallala Road. The overall distance is about a half mile. Then I continue my normal pace for the remaining 3 miles of my distance run.

This is how a 53 year old runner, sans training partners or team, or watch, runs intervals. The first test of the success of my telephone pole intervals will be this Thursday at Shoes & Brews. I plan to run a half mile time trial to get myself on their beer board. If I qualify, my half mile time, ideally under 3 minutes, will be the price I’ll pay ongoing for beers.

Intervals

10 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Bolder Boulder, intervals, quarters

After running my first track workout in decades, it occurs to me I don’t really know how to run intervals anymore. Or more specifically, how to understand their measurements. So writing this is as much thinking out loud as anything and I’ll take feedback. I’ll reiterate my splits below from my earlier post on timing.

Q1: 1:43 rest 2:15 Q2 1:59 rest 2:20 Q3 1:43 rest 2:29 Q4 1:44 rest 2:26 Q5 1:42 rest 2:26 Q6 1:40 rest 1 mile cool down

These intervals consist of 400 meters each, or what I nostalgically refer to as quarters. And it was quite nostalgic stepping back out onto the track. I ran these quarters at Niwot HS – a gorgeous setting with mountain views. I warmed up with a mile around the track. I used the default clock app on my iPhone in stopwatch mode to track the splits. I simply hit the split button so it recorded my rest intervals along with my quarters. I couldn’t tell how fast I was running and had to wait until I got home to read the times. It was a bit awkward but not so much given how slow I was running. I estimate my iPhone weighs about as much as a relay baton.

The first trick was determining how fast to run. The idea of intervals is to run some fraction of race pace – somewhere between 75% and 90%. My legs have forgotten how to run fast and so I kept it pretty slow. Part of what I want from this exercise is to relearn fast running form. And the last thing I want is to strain a muscle. I don’t really know but I feel like I was running at 75% race effort – had the race been a single quarter. Which is to say I believe I could run a quarter in 75 seconds. I’m sort of curious if I really can. I’ve no doubt that if I keep up these workouts, perhaps once a week for a month or so, that I could run a 75 second quarter. Once I’m confident my body has adapted to running fast and I won’t injure myself, I’m going to run one balls out to see what I can do.

What you can’t see in these splits is my form. I was learning. The second quarter was a struggle and you see it in the time as it was my slowest. I think I was tired from the first quarter and didn’t focus on form, perhaps it might be that I ran my first rest interval too fast. But after that, I paid attention to my arm swing and stride length. I wish I was a little further along but I really am starting with the basics of track running. It should pay dividends in the Bolder Boulder. Per my 2011 roadmap, I am devoting 2 months to developing speed for the year. After the Bolder Boulder, I’ll return my focus to trail running and distance.

The purpose of running intervals is to see if you can repeat the fast runs consistently after a controlled rest period. And you want to be less than fully recovered before you start the fast run again. Even though you start-up again before your heart is back at rest, you feel ok after 50 to 100 yards. In a quarter that is. If you’re running mile intervals, it takes longer. It’s a pretty cool feeling though. You start running with this heavy feeling and then it’s as if your heart rate catches up with your body’s needs. I like intervals. I still remember running mile intervals in cross country at Texas State. I could run 6 of them in the 4:40s. That was such a kick.

I don’t know if I should place more emphasis on lowering my rest interval or my quarter pace over the next several weeks. I feel that since I am trying to work on my form, I should look to lower my quarter pace and keep the rest interval consistent. Once my legs and gut are strong enough, I can try to reduce the rest interval. But currently, there isn’t a tremendous variance between the two – only a little over a half minute. It should be a good minute. I would like to see my quarter dip below 90 seconds before I try to reduce my rest interval.

I’ve thought about running distances other than the quarter. I believe I should keep it basic and consistent though before I try to mix things up. I need to learn my pace before I try a medley interval with quarters, half miles and miles. I’ll search some running blogs for ideas. I read Runner’s World and it usually contains some training advice. But I’d like feedback on my plans. So please comment.