No one (that I know of) absolutely loves running intervals. We definitely always love when those workouts are complete though!
Intervals are just dang hard. There's no way to sugarcoat that - which is one reason why it's really helpful to do them with other runners.
However, there are some great ways to ease into them, not unlike that slow walk out into the deep, frigid water, one body section at a time until you're finally acclimated!
If you're new to intervals, or haven't done them in a while, here's a great series of workouts for you to take on. This set of workouts utilizes the "recovery manipulation" concept I discussed last week.
You would perform one of these once each week - you can perform the same workout for at least 2 weeks before advancing to the next. The pace of the workout is completely based on your current fitness. If you are unsure how to know what your paces should be for this type of workout, DM me and I'll explain an easy way for you to know.
These will be based on a runner who runs a 20 minute 5K (race).
For a 20:00 5K Runner, all 400's will be 90-95 seconds.
Workout 1: 3 sets of (4 x 400 with 1:00 rest), 3:00 rest between sets
Workout 2: 2 sets of (6 x 400 with 1:00 rest), 3:00 rest between sets
Workout 3: 12 x 400 with 1:00-1:15 rest
All three workouts are essentially the same amount of actual running volume, but what changes as you advance is the density of the workout. Density is best defined as the combination of work done and the time it takes to do it. So as these workouts progress, you increase density by packing in the same amount of work but in less overall time. This is a great way to build your fitness and speed!
