Sprints and Intervals

Part of training for a marathon include these dastardly things called "sprints" or "intervals".  I remember running suicides in basketball, sprints from the baseline to the free throw line and back, then halfcourt and back, then to the opposite free throw line and back, and finally to the opposite baseline and back.  Uh, I never liked those things, because coach used to make us run those as punishments at the end of practice, or just as part of his conditioning drills.  Man, those things were hard, even back then when I was young and spry.

And now as part of my upcoming marathon training, these darn things are back in my life again.  Now, I'll never actually "sprint" meaning a full-out 100% effort, that is, unless a dog is chasing me or something like that.  But, it's much faster than I'm used to, and difficult to maintain for a long time.  In my training, there are four sets of intervals distances: 400m, 800m, 1200m, and 1600m.  It starts at 8x400m and peaks at 4x1600m.  The pace is 1 min less than my 10k pace for the 400m and 30 seconds less than my 10k pace 1600m.  Seems slow, but running 'fast' is tough at my age.

The benefits, though, are great.  When I have my long runs on the weekends, the slower pace (1 minute slower than my 10k pace, or even slower if I feel like it) seems much easier, and I concentrate on my form a lot more.  If you do plan to incorporate intervals in your workout regimen, be sure to warm up well, stretch, and start out nice and easy.  Running too fast, too soon ... results in injury.  I know this firsthand.  My good friend always tells me to join a track workout group, and I probably should do that one day, and really reap the benefits of running and training in a group.  I would encourage you to explore that as well.

I'm off soon, going to run 8x400m, but a little slower than usual.  Just 'warming up' and 'getting ready' at this point.  I'm about a week and a half from the start of marathon training.