How to Predict Your Marathon Time Based on Your 10K
Intervals, how wonderful they are!!! For anyone using our running training plans, you will see that we love to chuck in a speed session each week. Hate us for it? Love us for it? Whatever your view is on intervals, we need to do them. Sit back and read why there are benefits to interval sessions!
Don’t have 5 mins? Read our 1 x 20-second sprint:
Burn more calories
Enhance your endurance!
Improve your VO2 Max
Get FASTER!
Smile and boast after!
1. Burns calories
Maybe you run for fun, maybe you are on a weight loss journey. Whatever your ‘why’, there is a benefit we will all love from interval and that is that you burn more calories! With short burst of sprints, you burn calories at a much higher rate than you normally would.
2. Enhance your endurance!
For those of you on our running training plans, you will know that our methodology includes 3 key sessions, intervals, tempo and long runs (along with easy runs). Why? Well, you could write a book on this, but one of the main reasons is to add variety and ensure you are always testing your body.
Interval sessions help you to build up your pace and teach your body how to run at an intense pace and work through it. You then recover for a minute or two. This will naturally lead to you being able to run further.
3. Improve your VO2 Max
Coopah first started because our co-founder, Pete, lost his mum to a heart attack so this one is an important one to us. Firstly, wear a heart rate monitor and track your heart rate, if you see anything strange, seek medical attention. We aren’t medical experts though so we will stop there.
How do intervals help? They teach your heart how to beat fast enough to supply the whole body with oxygen.
4. Get faster!
Naturally, you want a PB, this means you need to run faster than ever before! This doesn’t come from just pounding the pavements at the same pace and distance every time. This comes from a lot of hard work behind the scenes.
One of those sessions is the interval session. If you break up your efforts into shorter distances, this means you can work your body harder on each set which means you can gain confidence running faster than race pace. Your body will remember this and start to react meaning on race day, your race pace will feel that little bit easier!
5. SMILE AND BOAST AFTER!
Without a doubt the most important one. Don’t get too hung up on your PB, run firstly for enjoyment. Running makes your feel good and running is therapy. Therefore, when you’ve finished a hard session, sit back, smile and boast about the session on your zoom calls. You deserve it!
Looking for a plan to incorporate intervals? Download Coopah today, pick a race distance of your choice along with your time goal and then set a date for that target PB. Want motivation?
