May 5, 2006 -- Triathlon season is here, and it’s time to start stepping up your run training. For most athletes this means intervals. That’s right intervals. For many athletes, “interval” is a bad word, conjuring up thoughts of being doubled over on the side of the track, legs shaking and dry-heaving from the searing pain of oxygen debt. However, this shouldn’t be the case. While the road to success is definitely paved with hard work, planning and execution are the signposts that will keep you headed in the right direction.
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Coach and pro triathlete Jimmy Archer.
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The term “interval” simply refers to the interval of time you allow yourself to recover after an effort. For example, if you are doing mile repeats you might run for six minutes and have a rest interval of three minutes. This is referred to as one to one-half rest or 1:.5 and can be applied to any distance or time, 400 meters in 90 seconds with 45 seconds rest, three miles in 20 minutes with 10 minutes rest -- you name it. The point is that the intensity and desired outcome of a given workout will be determined by the amount of rest you allow yourself in relation to the pace intensity. This is where people tend to get lost. It is important to remember that interval training has a cumulative effect throughout the workout and being too ambitious too early is what leads to the dread most athletes feel toward intervals.
The best way to think of interval training is in terms of trying to broaden your fitness spectrum. The broader your spectrum the more efficient you will be at race pace.
You have three basic types of interval workouts, or three ranges of your spectrum: faster than pace, pace and LT.
Faster than pace: Faster-than-pace intervals will consist of shorter efforts and usually comparatively longer rest periods of 1:2 or 1:3 -- for example, 10 x 200 in 40 seconds with 90 seconds rest. This type of effort will help train your muscular strength and efficiency beyond your planned race pace.
The idea here is that if you can train at five minutes per mile pace, then holding six-minute pace for 10km should be doable. When setting up this type of workout, remember that your work-interval distance should never total more than half of your race distance. For example, if you race Olympic distance, keep your interval work under five kilometers, and if you are doing Ironman or 70.3, don’t go much beyond eight kilometers; in fact, five kilometers is usually plenty, as this type of workout is less important to long-distance racers, yet still necessary.
Pace intervals:While faster-than-pace workouts should only be scheduled once or twice per month, pace intervals will be your bread-and-butter workout, done nearly every week. Pace intervals consist of longer efforts at a 1:1 or 1:.5 work-rest ratio with total workout volume approaching two-thirds of your race distance.
Mile repeats are the legendary example of a pace intervals. However, pace intervals can consist of anything from 800 to 2000 meters. As the name implies, the idea here is to run your efforts at your goal race pace with limited rest between work intervals. This will help you to become more comfortable and efficient at your goal pace. The secret to pace intervals is consistency: start conservatively and maintain your pace throughout the entire workout. Don’t blast the first two only to fall apart over the second half of the workout.
Lactate-threshold intervals: LT or lactate-threshold intervals are best done in the early season but should be revisited throughout the season. LT intervals can be done over longer or shorter distances, but the rest will always be very short, such as 1:.25 or less rest.
For example: 2 x 5km with five minutes rest; or 25 x 400 with 20 seconds rest or a 100m jog. Either way, the idea is to keep your intensity hovering just at the level where you begin to become uncomfortable -- a pace you can maintain but you would rather not. LT intervals are all about efficiency. You are training your body to deal with lactate and other byproducts of inefficiency. Some people love this type of workout and others hate it. Again, the key to success is consistency; start more slowly than you think you should and build into the workout. Most likely you won’t speed up but, rather, just maintain your pace, which is what you want.
Now that you know your workout types, a good basic program calls for pace intervals every week for three weeks. Add faster-than pace intervals to one of those three weeks and LT intervals to another of those weeks. On the fourth week of the month do faster than pace intervals and LT intervals.
Monthly plan:
Week 1: Faster than pace on Tuesday; Pace on Thursday
Week 2: LT on Tuesday; Pace on Thursday
Week 3: Pace on Thursday
Week 4: Faster than pace on Tuesday; Pace on Thursday
Good luck and good planning.
If you have a triathlon-training question for Jimmy Archer, please e-mail Triathlete Magazine Interactive.
Jimmy Archer is a six-year professional triathlete and coach with a degree in exercise physiology and 10 years coaching experience. Jimmy coaches through AZcoaching and can be reached at jimmy@jimmyarcher.com.