Interval Training, in a form appropriate to your needs and state of fitness, is the quickest way for an endurance runner to improve. But interval training done badly, or too frequently, is a recipe for progressive decline and injury. One interval session per week is plenty for a novice. An experienced distance runner could manage three good sessions.
Endurance intervals should be run at only a little above race pace, trying to run quite fast, but smoothly with as little effort and strain as possible. (This is also the way to race well.)
So choice of intervals is important.
- A good class marathon runner might choose to do 6 x 1450m in about 5 minutes, with 1½ minutes recovery.
- A novice 5k runner could do 5 x 370m in 2 minutes, with 3 minutes recovery.
- A sprinter would do 5 x 200m in 30 – 45 seconds, with 4-5 minutes recovery.
All the Civic Centre intervals start from the same place near the footbridge to the stadium. They are based on a 370m lap. You can add any extra distance by continuing east on the path between the Civic Centre and the River Almond. (See map below.)
Sprinters can choose a shuttle run from the finish point.
The measured turn-points are marked on the ground.
We advise you to jog to your chosen turn-point and back, as a warm-up.
Please keep to the right, in order to avoid collisions.
