Only three purposes of interval training

Do you do an interval workout now?

Have you ever done any interval workouts in your life?

First of all, have you ever heard of a word ‘Interval Training’?

In this blog post, I will show you what interval training is and how to do it.

The history of interval training.

Historically speaking, interval training was invented in 1950s by an East German scientist. And a Czechoslovakian Emil Zatopek did it and won three gold medals of 5,000m, 10,000m and full marathon in the Olympic game in 1952. He was also the first runner who ran 10,000m under 29 minutes all over the World. He is absolutely a legend.

When he was preparing for a full marathon, he did even 100 times 400m. An incredible workout.

Before the East German scientist invented interval training, Nordic runners did Fartlek. Before the World war two, Nordic countries were the best in the World, like Sweden, Finland and Norway. They did Fartlek.

Fartlek is speed play in English if it is translated in a direct way. In Nordic countries, children play running with changing their pace so often, like ‘Let’s run fast to that tree’ and then jog for a while and someone starts running faster suddenly and the rest of children chase him and after he was caught, they jog for a while and then they sprint up hill to the top and jog for a while again.

I don’t know if Nordic children still do this kind of play though.

Interval training was made from Fartlek. If you make Fartlek more structured, you’ll get interval training.

However, there is no exact definition of interval training. There is a similar workout, called repetition. Usually, there are more rest sessions between fast running sessions in repetition training. However, again there is no exact definition.

Usually, 5 times 1,000m with 1 minute recovery is called interval training and 5 times 1,000m with 5 minutes recovery is called repetition training. But not everyone agrees with me. Probably some coaches or athletes call 5 times 1,000m with 5 minutes recovery interval training because runners cannot run as fast as 1,500m race pace with 5 times 1,000m with 5 minutes recovery.

So, you cannot draw a clear line between interval training and repetition training. However, it is not so important. An important thing is, why you do interval training and what is the purpose.

There are only three purposes of interval workout.

The purpose 1 : Training your neuro-muscle system.

Physiologically speaking, it’s training your neuro-muscle system. However, not many people would understand what I mean by that. So, let me explain it step by step.

Practically speaking, it’s getting used to speed which you need on a race day. Most of your performance at middle- and long-distance events is determined by your metabolism. You cannot sustain a certain speed to the end because you cannot produce energy anymore, not because of the lack of speed.

However, you also need to get used to speed.

Have you ever experienced, you are already struggling in the beginning of a race nevertheless you feel not so hard?

This is very typical if a runner takes part in a shorter race.

For example, a good half marathoner is able to run a 1,500m race well too. However, they are already struggling in the beginning of the race because their bodies are not used to 1,500m race pace, in other words, they cannot stay relaxed enough. They waste some energies and that’s why they cannot perform the best.

Or, some athletes have the best metabolism (heart, lung etc), but they lose a race because their bodies are not used to the final sprint of the race enough. This is also very often happening.

Physiologically speaking, we human beings’ motor nerves are designed for our normal life. In other words, we are the best at doing our normal lives. I use chopsticks instead of a knife and a fork. I speak Japanese instead of English. So, I’m always better at using chopsticks and speaking English than foreigners.

I use chopstick smoothly and speak Japanese smoothly, that means my motor nerves are adjusted to for speaking Japanese and using chopsticks well. So, I do not struggle for using chopsticks and speaking Japanese.

Whatever it is, the more we do it, the more our motor nerves are well adjusted to do that thing.

That means, the more you run, the more your motor nerves adapt to running. You can run more smoothly.

However, exactly speaking, the body movement of running 5 minutes per kilometer pace and 3 minutes per kilometer pace are different. If we want to run fast on a race day, our bodies need to get used to fast pace. How fast? As fast as your target race pace and we want to repeat running that pace over and over and over again.

However, here is the problem. The faster the pace is, the more difficult it is to repeat it or increase the volume of running that pace.

So, we use interval training. It’s so difficult to run your target 5,000m race pace constantly while it is relatively easy to do 15 times 400m with 200m jogging recovery at your 5,000m goal race pace.

Also, it is relatively easy to do 25 times 400m with 200m jogging recovery at your 10,000m goal race pace.

One more example, it is very difficult to run 1,500m at your goal race pace constantly in your training while it is relatively easy to do 8 times 400m with 400m jogging recovery at your 1,500m goal race pace.

And also, it is important to train your muscle. In middle and long distance running, we need muscle strength. When we run middle or long distance, our muscles do not make the maximal power. However, we need to last the necessary power to the end of a race. It’s not slow and long, it’s not the maximal power in 10 seconds, but somehow fast and somehow long.

Let’s make a quick calculation.

If someone’s 100m race ability is 12 seconds sharp and full marathon ability 2:06:36, then full marathon race pace is 66.666666% of the 100m race pace. That means, this guys muscles should be resistant to 66.666666% of the maximal power output two hours six minutes and 36 seconds. He does not need to make the maximal muscle power output on a marathon race day. However, he needs to sustain 66.6666666% of the maximal muscle power output to the end.

His 5000m race pace would be approximately 75% of the maximal muscle power output and he needs to sustain it approximately 13 minutes.

The exact number depends on your event and your current ability, of course. Our muscles should be resistant to somehow long distance and somehow fast pace. To train our muscles, interval training is also useful because if we put recovery sessions between fast sessions, it is relatively easy to run somehow fast and somehow long.

So again, this is the first purpose of using interval training : training your neuro-muscle.

The second purpose of interval training : training your metabolism

One of the most important determinants of middle and long distance running performance is aerobic capacity. Meaning, how much energy you can produce at given time by using aerobic metabolism. That’s why most of your training should be aerobic running, in other words, endurance runs which do not require anaerobic metabolism.

However, if we want to use aerobic metabolism at the maximal level, we also need to anaerobic metabolism and that means, we get tired very soon, so we need recovery sessions between fast running sessions.

Let me explain it step by step.

First of all, we human beings usually do not use anerobic metabolism. Most of our energy for life is made in aerobic energy. In our daily lives, we do not use anaerobic energy. Not only we human beings but also all animals on the earth (I mean not in the sea) produce energy by using aerobic energy because aerobic energy is much more efficient than anaerobic energy.

It is said that lives developed by making more energy by using aerobic energy.

For example, in the sea there is not as much oxygen as on earth. So, fishes cannot produce as much energy as lives on earth can produce. That’s why most big animals live on earth. Also, intelligent animals live on earth because if there is not much oxygen, it is impossible to produce enough energy for brains.

In the sea, there are some big animals and intelligent animals, but they sometimes come up to the sea level and then inhale and exhale. Whales, dolphins, orcas, they do that. In other words, they produce energy by using aerobic metabolism much more than fishes.

Anyway, we almost forgot about anerobic metabolism in our revolution process. However, we still use it if it is emergency.

The faster we run, the more energy we need at given time. The energy demand increases proportionately to running speed. And once we reach our limits of aerobic metabolism, we start using anaerobic energy to make enough energy to sustain that running speed.

However, we human beings are not robots. We do not start using anerobic metabolism exact the moment aerobic metabolism reaches the limit. Before the aerobic metabolism reaches the limit, our bodies start using anerobic metabolism gradually. That means, if we want to give our body the maximal aerobic power output stimulus, we also need to use anerobic metabolism.

Roughly speaking, once running speed reaches marathon race pace or a little slower than that, our bodies start using anaerobic metabolism and as running speed increases, our bodies use more anaerobic metabolism exponentially (not proportionally). And our aerobic power output reaches the maximum at 5000-3000m race pace.

However, here is the problem. Anerobic metabolism is not only inefficient but also it is toxic. The more anaerobic metabolism we use, the shorter time we can sustain that pace because of the toxin. If you do not get slower, you’ll die or at least some of your muscle cells destroy completely because of the toxin.

Fortunately, you do not need to consider that because your central nervous system forces you to slow down. There is no way to talk against your central nervous system. Your central nervous system is the governor of your body.

Again, once your running speed reaches full marathon race pace or slightly slower than that, your body starts using anerobic metabolism and after that as the running speed increases, your body uses more anerobic metabolism exponentially. That means, in middle and long distance running races, your body always uses anerobic metabolism. Also, your aerobic metabolism reaches the limit at your 5,000-3,000m race pace, in other words, if your running speed is slower than that, your aerobic metabolism does not reach the limit.

If you want to reach your potential, your body needs to reach the limit and also gets used to using anaerobic metabolism, in other words, your body needs to get used to the toxin. So, sometimes you need to run faster than full marathon race pace up to 3,000m race pace if you are not a middle distance runner and if you are a middle distance runner, you need to run even faster sometimes in training.

However, sustaining this pace is not easy because of the toxin. So, we put recovery sessions between fast running sessions. This is a basic idea of interval training. Training your metabolism is the second purpose of interval training.

And also, if you understand this, you’ll also understand why most of your training should not be hard, in other words, should be slower than race pace. It is because if you run at your race pace, your body produces toxin. A little toxin can be medicine while enough amount of toxin can destroy your body. This is the simple reason why your most of training should be slower than race pace, in other words not hard.

The third purpose of interval training : Preparing for your race specifically.

Our bodies adapt to the stimulus specifically. If you live in a hot place, your body is more resistant to heat and if you live in a cold place, your body is more resistant to cold. If you play baseball, you become a better baseball player. If you swim, you become a better swimmer.

So, if you want to run 10,000m 40 minutes, you need to run 10,000m 40 minutes in training. But how?

My question is what the training for running 10,000m 40 minutes is. That cannot be running 10,000m 40 minutes in training because if you can do that, you do not need training. You are already able to run 10,000m 40 minutes. My question is how we can make something impossible possible. The simple answer is, putting recovery sessions during a workout.

You cannot run 10,000m 40 minutes now (If you can, you can run faster on a race day). So, you do 10 times 1,000m with 1 minute recovery jogging instead of running 10,000m without any breaks.

If you repeat it two times, you can imagine how it feels on a race day and you will see if you are ready to run 10,000m 40 minutes or not.

If you repeat it 4-8 times before your target race, you are well prepared for everything, metabolism, neuro-muscles and mentality. Mentality is also important. You need to get confidence before a race.

So, this is the third reason of interval training. Giving the specific stimulus to your body.

Remember, interval training is efficient if it is a little. Interval training is a kind of toxin. If it is a little, it can be good medicine while if it is too much it destroys your body. Always remember that.

Today the lesson is over. I hope this article helps you.

Lastly, if you want to run a half marathon sub 90 minutes, I have something good for you, so please keep reading through to the end. If you don’t, please read other blog posts, they would help you too.

Now, I wrote 12 weeks training program for half marathon sub 90 minutes for an amateur runner. If you want to run half marathon sub 90 minutes in an effective way, already run 200-300km a month (50-80km a week), and coach yourself (creating your training plan by yourself) and willing to pay as much as two cups of Starbucks coffee (5 USD ) for an effective training, this program is perfect fit for you.

Let me tell you why and what it is.

I have coached hundreds of amateur runners to help them to run half marathon sub 90 minutes, marathon sub 3 hours, 2:50 etc to achieve that and they really achieved that. From my experience, I know how a typical training program looks like for running half marathon sub 90 minutes. So, I want to share it with you.

Once you know how a typical training program looks like, you know which direction you need to go and approximately how hard you need to train so that you don’t train too hard for your goal. Also, you don’t do unnecessary things and know what kind of workouts you need to put on your whole training program, so that you can go for a shortcut.

Also, I explained the terminology in this 12 weeks training program, in other words, I explain what supplemental speed workouts are, what tempo runs are, what test races are, so you do not get lost and understand what I mean. And once you know the concept of each workout, you can think about your training more by yourself.

One of the goal of long distance running and marathon is creating the best training plan for yourself and you get one step closer to it.

A lot of runners who got this program knew which direction they needed to go without getting lost or thinking so much. So, their thought got clearer and were able to focus on their training more. So, they just went for half marathon sub 90 minutes straightforward.

Of course, sometimes they wanted to consider some things. Then they go back to this 12 weeks training program and then their thought got clear again and go back to their training with 100% focus. Literally, they went to the fastest way to half marathon sub 90 minutes.

Getting started is very very easy. You just choose your payment method from a credit card, Paypal, Apple pay, Google pay and Alipay, type your name and your e-mail address which I am going to send the program to. It takes only 5 minutes and you’ll get the 12 weeks training program by an automation e-mail.

So, literally you’ll get the 12 weeks training program in 10 minutes from now. And one hour later or one day later, you will already appreciate your decision and motivated so much to go for running every day.

The only problem you’ll have is that I didn’t start coaching in English 3 years ago and you started then. Does that sound fair enough?

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Do you want to think about it more?

I totally understand how you feel because many runners said ‘Let me think about it more’ before I started coaching them even though now they appreciate my coaching so much and some of them call me ‘master’.

Now, let me ask you a question. Does the idea make sense to you?

This 12 weeks training program sounds good to you?

If not, probably this training program is not for you. Please close this page and I will try to write something for you next time.

While if that sounds good to you so far, let me say ‘You are a smart person who knows the value of this program’.

The true beauty of this program is, not only giving you 12 weeks training program but also explaining what you understand before you start this program. I explain also the idea of periodization and test races. So, you will know the right process to half marathon sub 90 minutes, first you do this, second you do this, third you do this and on and on.

Imagine the recipe of Sushi. Even the materials are same, if you change the order of procedures, a completely different thing is made. You don’t know what Sushi is?

Oh my god, OK, imagine how to cook a scramble egg. What if you put egg into a frying pan before cracking the egg?

Or what if you ask an woman to marry you before asking her a date?

Changing the right order of procedures makes a wrong result even if you do all necessary things.

Training is same.

Not only understanding what you need to do but also the right order of what you need to do is so much important. And you’ll know the right order that most people don’t know if you buy this program.

Let me ask you another honest question. Are you comfortable with me right now?

I mean, I have 10,000 customers only in the last 5 years in Japan and have never met most of them. So, in the beginning they were uncomfortable with me for only one reason that they have never met me in face to face even though most of them respect me and trust me so much now and some of them call me 'master' just like I told you.

And I totally understand that feeling too.

So, let me introduce me a bit. I’m Ikegami Hideyuki and have been running daily since I was 12 years old. My seeking was running as long as possible with 3 minutes per kilometer pace. When I was 14 years old, I ran 3000m under 9 minutes, I ran 5000m under 15 minutes at the age of 15, I ran 8.5km under 25:30 at the age of 18 and ran 10000m race under 30 minutes at the age of 18, I ran half marathon 63:09 at the age of 19. And then unfortunately 30km 1:31 and full marathon 2:13 are my personal best time in my life so far. I have never sustained 3 minutes per kilometer pace until 30km. My dream is sustaining that pace until 42.195km and still chasing it.

On this way, I have read hundreds books about running which were written in Japanese, English and German and heard hundreds top coaches and athletes all over the world including Japanese, German, English, Norwegian, Kenyan, Austrian, Australian, French etc. Some of them ran under 2:10 for male runners and under 2:25 for female.

The fastest guy I talked with daily was 2:06 male marathoner and 2:18 female marathoner even though we did not always talk about running or training but also family, friend, love, job, education though.

After 18 years old, mostly I trained alone. So, I knew I was able to help amateur runners who trained alone or coached themselves. I made my company Well-being Ltd 5 years ago with no capital investment with my goal ‘Helping 10,000 amateur runners to achieve their goals, dreams and solve their problems’. And I already did it with Japanese amateur runners.

So, I made a decision to do the same thing in English.

Additionally, I hired 5 employees who are still running or were running in the past. Three male employees ran full marathon around 2:30 with my coaching and two female runners ran 1,500m under 4:30 and 3000m around 9:30 without my coaching.

Plus, the vice president of my company who ran full marathon 2:29 trained junior high school students now and one of them became a junior high school champion with the time 1,000m 2:30. Now he is 16 years old and already ran 1,500m 3:52 and 5000m 14:22.

As long as my company goes, we support you too if you commit yourself. Remember, this is not the end, but the beginning of our relationship. Finally, you found a person who teaches you the right information about running.

Now, what if my product does not help you at all and you are not satisfied with my product?

In that case, I will give you money back without any hesitation. Let me honest with you. Approximately, 0.3% of my customers are not satisfied with my product for some reasons and in that case I always paid all money back to them because I’m proud of my coaching. If I help runners, I get paid without hesitation and if I do not help runners, I pay them back without any hesitation too.

However, the simple truth is that more than 10,000 amateur runners are satisfied with me in the last 5 years and the next is your turn.

The only problem you’ll have is that I started this business in 3 years ago and you started then. Sounds fair enough?

Getting the fast ticket to half marathon sub 90 minutes now!