Intervals and recovery

career move

I was running intervals this evening and I wondered about recoveries.
Does it matter how long you take and whether you jog them or walk them or just stand?
How do you decide how long the recovery should be?
Does the recovery affect different energy systems and do different recoveries change the nature of the workout?
Sprinters take very long recoveries. Is this because it's better to maintain the quality/speed of the interval than to compromise it with a shorter recovery?
Are recoveries different for swim/run/bike and why?
I found this article http://www.runnersworld.com/ask-coach-jenny/how-long-to-recover-between-intervals? which seems to suggest that you take as long as you need to recover and it will vary between reps and in differs conditions but if there are any other opinions out there, it would be nice to read them.

and still ricky villa

I can't speak for the masses but my approach to intervals has always been to recover for the same distance as the interval based on feel. Vomit is a very real side affect when I'm in the later stages of an interval session so the recovery would be to walk it off or call it off but generally an incredibly slow jog leaves me capable of hitting the next interval
Track intervals are always more consistent if you have access to one

(Based on 10+ years of marathon training using Jack Daniels/Pfitzinger/Hansons/Garmin plans)

Myles Splitz

career move wrote: »

I was running intervals this evening and I wondered about recoveries.
Does it matter how long you take and whether you jog them or walk them or just stand?
How do you decide how long the recovery should be?
Does the recovery affect different energy systems and do different recoveries change the nature of the workout?
Sprinters take very long recoveries. Is this because it's better to maintain the quality/speed of the interval than to compromise it with a shorter recovery?
Are recoveries different for swim/run/bike and why?
I found this article http://www.runnersworld.com/ask-coach-jenny/how-long-to-recover-between-intervals? which seems to suggest that you take as long as you need to recover and it will vary between reps and in differs conditions but if there are any other opinions out there, it would be nice to read them.

Only speaking from a running perspective but yes it all matters.

When looking at intervals/recovery you should always look at the following aspects:

Predominant nature of the event you are training for? (aerobic or anaerobic predominantly as a composition of energy requirement)

Stage of training you are at? (General fitness or Competition block)

Aim of the session? (physiological stimulus or race specific pacing

If your aim is to develop aerobically (example would be training sessions of a 5k+ nature) I would always encourage jog recoveries unless the aim is to get used to the pace in earlier stages of training. This allows your HR to remain slightly elevated throughout the session and focuses on lactate clearance.

Generally early season I would have recoveries slightly longer.

General guide I use is

1 mile paced reps - 200% of rep time
3k raced pace - 100% of rep time time
5k paced - 80-100% of rep time
10k paced - 50-75% of rep time
HM paced - 25-33% of rep time

As you get closer to target races these shorten a little to allow them to replicate stimulus of a race. Normally this will come about with a similar to race feeling effort in the closing reps of the session

With regards sprinters many times they long recoveries are necessary due to the neural recruitment for power development nature of the sessions. These transcend simple energy pathways and require complete recovery and low volume due to the susceptibility of the Central Nervous System to fatigue. Effectively running under recovered or too many reps is a waste of time to them because it will not develop speed in the way they are aiming to.

Recoveries are fairly variable among coaches and this is where coaches really earn their bread and butter. Anyone can prescribe or do a session but knowing how to balance the recovery to not over or under do it is where the real gains are made.

career move

That's brilliant, thanks Myles

Dory Dory

Myles is the bomb!! Brilliant!

and still ricky villa

Yes. What Myles said