This week's workout builds power in your muscles and increases the body's tolerance towards lactic acid (that awful stuff which makes our muscles ache!)
For endurance athletes it will build stamina and speed.
Welcome to 6 x 1k Intervals!!
Running 1k intervals are a zone 4 heart rate (80% - 90% of maximum HR) and VO2 max workout. Doing this workout once every 1-2 weeks will boost your body's use of oxygen, improve your pacing, increase your weekly mileage, raise your anaerobic threshold to fight off the build up of lactic acid for longer and give more variety to your running workouts.
Interval Training
When you hear the word interval, you may think it's a maximum full 100% effort lasting around 30 seconds to 1 minute.
But 1k repeats are slightly different. Although it may be tempting to go all out for this kind of interval, the trick is to hold back just a little bit so you can hold the pace for a touch longer than an all-out effort.
Depending on your fitness, 1k intervals may take between 4 - 6 minutes to complete, thereby helping increase speed AND endurance.
Let's get it done!
The Workout
2k warm up at easy pace (don't forget your pre-run stretches!)
6 x 1k repeats @10k race pace target (stick to 80%-90% heart rate)
250m recovery jog/walk between each interval.
1k cool down run
A Few Pointers:
Pacing is important – aim for even splits through all the intervals and be careful not to start out too fast. The first one may seem "easy". The last one won't!
The trick to finishing the workout is to avoid complete exhaustion by staying within the 80% – 90% target heart rate zone.
Do the recovery jog slowly enough to bring your heart rate back to zone 2. The recovery jog is just as important as the pace of the interval.
Don’t think too far ahead in this workout – focus on the interval you are in.
It's wise to only do this workout once you have a solid base of fitness
What are 1k repeats good for?
Lots of things!
Increase VO2 Max
This type of workout is a VO2 max workout, which are great for increasing the amount of oxygen your body can use. Think of your body like a fire. The more oxygen it gets, the stronger it becomes!
VO2 max workouts will improve your performance for any run last more than one minute and especially for events that require the highest blend of sustained aerobic power and speed, i.e events ranging from the mile to 10K.
Pacing
Rather than focusing on sheer speed, running 1k intervals will build your endurance and teach you how to hold a faster pace for longer.
Being able to control pace at the start of a race or run will help you finish strong.
Weekly Volume
And because this workout includes a "medium" recovery, we can get in good volume at race pace without putting our bodies under too much stress.
Fun
I also find these workouts quite enjoyable (if that's the right word) because it's broken up into different segments of intensity to keep it interesting - whereas sometimes our "long run" can be a bit boring at times. I have some solutions for that coming soon!
No Pro Science
Last but not least some "no pro" science! Around the middle of our zone 4 heart rate is where most of us will hit our anaerobic threshold. This is when our muscles are producing more lactic acid than they can get rid of and they start to scream STOP at us!
But don't listen to them. Tell them legs to SHUT UP!
Training at this heart rate is going to raise up your your anaerobic threshold and slow down that muscle burning sensation.
The result? You can run faster for longer! KABOOM!
How much should I rest between intervals?
A common rule of thumb is to rest between 50% and 100% of your internal time.
So if you're interval is 3 minutes you should rest between 90 seconds and 3 minutes. This allows your breathing to come back to normal so that you can complete the next interval at the right intensity.
I did this workout on May 25th 2021 - let's see how it went!
My 1k Interval Workout
I won't bore you with a 1000 word debrief, so here's a few of my thoughts on the workout.
The first 3 intervals I felt strong and completed them surprisingly well
4th interval start to blow last 150m
5th and 6th set a good pace. Don't push too hard.
First interval set since hamstring injury. Be careful!
Solid 250m recovery jog. Slow, deep breaths, little bit of water every 2 intervals
Let's check out the pace and heart rate management!
The pacing through the intervals is not too bad - a drift of 9 seconds per km over the intervals.
Here are some lovely pictures...
We can also see there's about 4% heart rate drift throughout (about 4and was able to recover quite well between each interval, so that I was able to complete the next interval at almost the same pace. Pretty isn't it!
And the breakdown of zones was mostly Zone 2 and Zone 4. The zone 3 efforts is likely to be during the recovery jog and the cool down only.
The Bottom Line
This is one of my favourite workouts to do once a week.
Do this workout consistently and you'll see good gains quickly.
Be honest with yourself about the pace of each interval. Go to high and you'll be in the red and won't be able to complete the set and get the benefit you're looking for. Go to low and it will be too comfortable, again not giving the benefits you want.
It's run at a hard pace, but not at a pace that makes you feel like you're gonna die.
Enjoy!
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