Interval Running

Charlene_1985

I've been a runner for a number of years now but had to take a few months off this summer for a hip injury I suffered from a slip at work. Was cleared to run in late October. Since then, I have regained most of my fitness but would like to add some HIIT to my running, which I never did before. I currently run (miles) 6,4,6,off,5,9,off. I pace around 8:30-9:15/mile. Today was my 4 mile day so I decided to do some intervals. I did a 10 minute warm up jog at 6MPH then did 1/8 mile at 8.2MPH, 1/4 mile at 6MPH, repeat for 4 miles. I think I did 12 1/8 intervals at a 7:20 pace with 11 1/4 10:00 pace intervals. It felt like a fairly strenuous workout. I walked for 15 to cool down. Is that a good starting point? How do I improve from here? More intervals, longer intervals? Like everyone else, I'd like to become a faster runner and have never really been able to get below 24:30 for a 5K. My 2017 goal is to break 50 for a 10K; I did a 10K on Jan 1 in 54. Thx.

spiriteagle99

There are a lot of variations, but simple is 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes slow or 2 minutes fast 1 minute slow. Run your reps at about your 5k pace. Repeat 5 times the first week, then 6, then 7. Or do 1/2 mile repetitions at your 10k pace followed by 2 minutes slower, or do 1 mile reps. at HM pace with a rest interval between.

I would do a longer warmup and cool-down, largely because it takes me a while to get warmed up. Speedwork is good on 6 - 8 mile days so you can do more easy running before and after to minimize injury risk.