Speed work

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aleking618
aleking618 Posts: 9 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
What is the actual point of it? I have found that for over a year or so that all the 400m and 800m intervals in the world have not made me any fitter or made me able to run a faster 5 and 10 k yet the second i stop busting my guts and switch to very long slow runs only ive bested my 5k time by 5 mins and 10k by nearly 10 mins. I just dont get how intervals are supposed to work anyway as everyone can run much faster than thier distance running pace all out so what are intervals supposed to improve?

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  • aleking618
    aleking618 Posts: 9 Member
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    Just say its after only 1 month ive got those times down by that much so its been very suprising
  • arussell134
    arussell134 Posts: 463 Member
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    They have made a huge difference for me, but not in place of long runs - in addition to. I run 30 mpw and do one speed day as well as one weekly long run of 8+ miles (lately it's been more like 10-12). I've gotten my 5K from 26:30 to 23:30 and my 10K from about an hour to 49:26. Are you making sure to put in the mileage as well or did you cut out the mileage to just do speedwork?

    Also, I'm not sure if I got your second post, but are you saying you've only been doing this for a month? (If so, yes, it will take more time than that.)
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    The heck if speed work will not help you improve. You got to integrate all the different types of running into your training... just doing long runs (in the long run) does not help you build strength, speed etc..

    Tempo, intervals, hill work, short runs, long runs... all of it will make you better. And the biggest thing that helped me with all these, was strength training my legs, cross training works...
  • aleking618
    aleking618 Posts: 9 Member
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    arussell134 wrote: »
    They have made a huge difference for me, but not in place of long runs - in addition to. I run 30 mpw and do one speed day as well as one weekly long run of 8+ miles (lately it's been more like 10-12). I've gotten my 5K from 26:30 to 23:30 and my 10K from about an hour to 49:26. Are you making sure to put in the mileage as well or did you cut out the mileage to just do speedwork?

    Also, I'm not sure if I got your second post, but are you saying you've only been doing this for a month? (If so, yes, it will take more time than that.)

    I mean ive only been running for longer and slower for a month but overall for a bit over a year. The most inused to do was 20 k a week which was mostly intervals of 800m but now i go at least 10k a day 6 days a week but at a snails pace but in just over a month ive managed to smash my pbs when i tried yesterday and the day before. Im pretty much doing the same times as you now but a bit slower on the 10. Only doenside so far is one of my knees is very painfull due to the instant massive increase in mileage
  • aleking618
    aleking618 Posts: 9 Member
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    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    The heck if speed work will not help you improve. You got to integrate all the different types of running into your training... just doing long runs (in the long run) does not help you build strength, speed etc..

    Tempo, intervals, hill work, short runs, long runs... all of it will make you better. And the biggest thing that helped me with all these, was strength training my legs, cross training works...

    Im.sure you.are right. Think ive just been doing it all wrong for a long time only doing intervals and thats why i havent got better. Ill proobably find i wont get any better carrying on just doing.what im doing now.without putting both together. Was just really suprised by how much a month of just running a bit further and slower and not even feeling like you are trying can help you improve.
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
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    Intervals improve your speed and endurance. Of course whether intervals will make you faster obviously depends on frequency, how long you've been doing them, and other factors such as how often you run, distance, etc. It's unlikely you'll see an improvement in one month.
  • aleking618
    aleking618 Posts: 9 Member
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    pomegranatecloud wrote: »
    Intervals improve your speed and endurance. Of course whether intervals will make you faster obviously depends on frequency, how long you've been doing them, and other factors such as how often you run, distance, etc. It's unlikely you'll see an improvement in one month.

    Nope it was for a year i was doing mainly intervals and hardly improved. Its the single month of running much further and much much slower that has drastically improved my times.
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
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    Well yeah if all you're doing is the same thing over and over you're not going to improve much. If you take a more balanced approach incorporating both longer runs and intervals you'll see improvement more improvement. It's also commonly known that just running further increases your overall speed.
  • aleking618
    aleking618 Posts: 9 Member
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    Ok so basically im just a dumb *kitten*. Cool
  • ROBOTFOOD
    ROBOTFOOD Posts: 5,527 Member
    edited March 2016
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    @aleking618 Start running longer runs. Tempo, progressive, VO2 Max and include hills so on race day they don't slow you down much and one speed day (intervals, strides) per week or every other week. Include a weekly long run and run it 1-3min/mi slower than goal race pace. Good luck with your training.
    Not a bad idea to start a 5k, 10k race plan either. Start with a novice on since you have just been running intervals.

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