Interval Training Boosts Performance
Runners are sharing interval training as a "secret weapon" for speed and endurance, suggesting sessions like a 10-minute warm-up followed by 8x (30-second fast runs/90-second easy jogs). The approach delivers benefits including fat burning and boosted VO2 max for improved running performance.
- Interval training was first systemized in the 1930s by German coach Waldemar Gerschler and physiologist Hans Reindell. Their method involved running intervals of 30 to 70 seconds to raise the heart rate to 170-180 beats per minute, followed by recovery periods until the heart rate lowered to 120 bpm. - The physiological benefits of this training extend beyond VO2 max to include an increase in the heart's stroke volume and contractility, as well as greater capillary density, which improves oxygen delivery to the muscles. - Czechoslovakian runner Emil Zatopek, who won three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, was a famous early adopter of interval training. His demanding regimen sometimes consisted of 100 repetitions of 400-meter runs in a single day. - Beyond the common high-intensity interval training (HIIT), there are other established variations. "Fartlek," a Swedish term for "speed play," involves unstructured changes in pace over a continuous run, often guided by the terrain. - The original theory by Gerschler and Reindell proposed that the key cardiovascular improvements happened during the recovery interval, not the period of intense work. It is during this recovery that the heart adapts, growing larger and stronger. - Studies have shown that interval training can induce similar or even greater physiological adaptations compared to moderate-intensity continuous training, but in a significantly shorter amount of time. - Different protocols exist for various goals; for example, the Tabata protocol involves 20 seconds of all-out effort followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated for four minutes. Another type, tempo intervals, involves running at a "threshold pace" that could be maintained for an hour-long race.
