Interval Training

Interval training is the only way to get quicker and tempo work. After chatting with my physio Nigel, he said I should be doing intervals at a speed of 16km per hour which is 6 min miles for 400m with 30 second breaks then try and do a tempo run on a Wednesday/Thursday at a quicker pace. This will get my times down, I am reading a book at the moment about how to train for your first ultra. It talks about all the basics, back to back long runs, what to eat, drink, etc. It also mentions interval training, you don't have to do it when training for an ultra. I believe it increases fitness as gets the heart rate up and I think as it makes you quicker it will help you run an ultra quicker. Even though a 100 mile race is completely different to running an ultra I still think it will help if you do intervals once a week. Plus adding in interval work and tempo work mixes it up a bit and keeps it more exciting.Today I ran 1km warm up then 15 x 400m intervals at speed 16km per hour with 30 second breaks, it does take it out of you but feels like you're really pushing yourself. Chatting to James today, he is on his medication at the moment and is off to Comrades on Friday to watch then kicks off his Grand Slam with Western States at the end of June - I hope he can start this and complete the other 3 races - Vermont, Leadville and Wasatch - he deserves it and his been out for too long. Will be good to go to Vermont with him as well. Just a bit of info on the Grand Slam for you, James is one of 22 people attempting the Grand slam http://www.run100s.com/gs11.htm and his the youngest, the only guy from the UK as well. So it's 4 of the hilliest 100 milers in the states within a 11 week period which sounds mental. Western States - 25th June, Vermont - 16th July, Leadville - 20th August and Wasatch 9th September. I would like to attempt this one day but the cost implications, lotteries and actually doing it makes it a big thing to do but I believe if you want something you can do anything. If James gets through this it will be a great achievement, especially considering he hasn't been running for the last 4 months.