Couch to 5K Running Program (C25K)

Join
We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

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 :)
This discussion has been closed.

Categories