Overtraining?

[trigurl]

I have been doing interval training for a while now (running) and as I upped my speed I have also upped the time I run, I am running about 60 mins. at 5 min. hard 2 min easy. I have noticed I don't seem any faster and wondering if I should decrease the time I am running and keep increasing the speed????
I am only doing sprints so 3 miles is it, but I can't seem to run 3 miles under 30 min. Any ideas?

[skibum]

How often are you doing the interval training workouts? I've always heard that you should only do them about once a week. If you are doing them more often, you may be overtraining.

I've always seen intervals planned out as the fast part being distance based (approx 1/2 mile) with the recovery being time based (around 1 min). The times/pace you mentioned works out to about that distance with a slightly longer recovery. As far as total time to run, for someone just starting out, do 4-6 repetitions and then build up to 8-10 repetitions. From what you wrote, you've been doing them for awhile and have built up to doing roughly 8 repetitions so that's pretty good.

If you don't feel like you're getting the benefit you want and you haven't been doing them more than once a week, I'd try backing off on the number of repetitions and focus on running faster on the reps that you do. Then build the reps back up as you begin to get faster.

One thing that I found that has helped me get faster is just to run with people that are faster than me. Do you have any running groups in your area that you could meet up with once a week? Usually there's a mix of paces within those groups and you can find someone who is just a little faster than you. You might not be able to hang with them for the whole run but by pushing yourself to try to keep up, you can get faster.

Good luck and keep us posted on how your training is going.

[spazzdog]

Every coach I had and every book I own on running says to increase distance OR speed but not both at the same time. If "things happen" (i.e. worse than usual fatigue or injury) it's more difficult to troublshoot the cause.

We used to back off the speed a bit when we added/increased interval distance then slowly get the new amount up "to speed". Same when adding distance to distance runs... never more than 10% add and no increasing speed during initial runs of new distance.

my two cents

That said, good luck with all you do...

spazz

[trigurl]

I think you are right, I was running that long and not real hard but harder than I would run on a long run, and the next day I would be sore! Last night I ran a 15 min warm up at 5.5 with a 1% incline, I went up to 5.7 for 5 min, then up to 6.3 (I think) for 5 min, then I went back to 5.5 for 10, and repeated, then slowed for about 10 min, for a total of 50 min. I felt really good!!!!!!! I wasn't breathing hard, if I felt like my h/r was too high I would take the incline to .5, but the best thing is today I am NOT sore. Total mileage was 4.5 miles. I pushed myself and realized I am faster than I think and can keep the pace at a 9 min mile - I needed that extra time on the warm up too.

I do intervals once a week and hill workouts once a week, then a long run. Since I can't swim right now I am running another mixed run, I don't have many flats to run on here in VA, my new favorite run is maybe 4 miles, its a slight decline where I can run hard, hit the flat for a few mins to recover then its uphill for several mins. then back down, whew, a good workout.

I will probably run tonight outside if we don't get rain, about 3 miles slow then go home and ride my bike on the trainer for about an hour.

I have a h/r monitor but the watch isn't working, I have to find someone who will work on it. Thanks for the help

[Dogmama]

My experience has been that if I'm stagnating, I need to either take some time off or practice active recovery - e.g., do something else that uses different muscles. It sounds like you're in a gym on a treadmill. I would probably use a step mill (if they have one) a few times a week to work quads or even just do some upper body weight lifting.