Couch to 5K Running Program (C25K)

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intervals question

shanster23
shanster23 Posts: 144 Member
edited January 23 in Social Groups
Sorry if this seems like a silly question, I'm still a bit clueless about running lol.

I know that intervals burn more calories but since there are no intervals options to log on MFP I have to go by average pace which got me wondering...
If my intervals give me an average pace of 6mph when the running/walking speeds are combined, does that still burn more than if I had just run 6mph steady pace?
Eg if I did 15mins of intervals that averaged 6mph does that burn more/same calories as just running at 6mph for 15 minutes?

Replies

  • timeasterday
    timeasterday Posts: 1,368 Member
    I think it comes out about the same but I only have my personal experience to go from. I looked back at my records and from the early part of C25K with the walk breaks to the end with continuous runs, I always burned about 10 calories/minute.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    You might want to get a heart rate monitor if you want to be really accurate about calories burned each session.

    From experience, I include my warm up/cool down walks as a part of my running speed, which always brings me down to a MFP "walk" and it's worked out fine.
  • mamakira
    mamakira Posts: 366
    I use a HRM. It helped me a lot. When I include sprints my calorie burn goes up dramatically. But it goes down quite fast as well.
    MFP usually gives me way more calories than my HRM does.
  • shanster23
    shanster23 Posts: 144 Member
    Thanks guys :) I'll just assume they're the same for now. Would love to get a HRM but as a poor student I can't afford one yet! Saving up for one though :)
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