Interval training: it really works!

You can call me an "instinct runner". I never cared about schedules, methods, programmes...until this summer. Back in 2011, I ran 5 km in around 22 minutes and since then I've always wondered if that was my limit. Was there really any room for improvement? After 5 years, I finally made up my mind: it was about time to try interval training. 

Yes, it's boring. And yes, it requires discipline and commitment. But it works. In my case, it took three weeks to improve my 5 km pb by 1 minute. Unfortunately I had to stop because of job reasons (meaning: I got a new job and soon I am going to move to... more info soon!). Here below you will find a detailed schedule of my interval training in a 400 m track field. After completing each 400 and 800 m run, I jogged 400 more meters (very slow), whereas after the 1 km run I jogged 600 meters. Each week, I included a 10 km or more session (running at a 5 min/km pace or faster). As said, the results are satisfactory: if last year I could not run the 5 km distance faster than 4'30'' per km, now I improved my pace by 14 seconds, running 5 km in 21 minutes and 21 seconds (4'16'' / km). I think that I can break the 21 minutes barrier, but unfortunately the summer is over and I doubt I would be able to run 40 km weekly in winter...anyway, I will keep you posted!
 

2 August	5 km, track	22'24'' (4'29'' / km)
4 August	10 km, road	48'45''
5 August	2 km jogging, exercises
6 August	Repetitions: 400 m. 7 times (tot: 5 km)	1'30'' (400 m)
7 August	2 km jogging, exercises
8 August	Repetitions: 800 m. 4 times (tot: 5 km)	3'12'' (800 m)
9 August	2 km jogging, exercises
10 August	10 km, road	49'49''
11 August	2 km jogging, exercises
12 August	Repetitions: 1 km 3 times (tot: 5 km)	3'57''(1000 m)
13 August	2 km jogging, exercises
14 August	5 km, track	21'52'' (4'22'' / km)
15 August	5 km jogging, road
16 August	Repetitions: 400 m 7 times (tot: 5 km)	<1'30'' (400 m)
18 August	Repetitions: 800 m 8 times (tot: 7 km)	3'05'' – 3'12'' (800 m)
19 August	12 km, road	59'20''
20 August	2 km jogging, exercies
21 August	Repetitions: 1 km 3 times (tot: 6 km)	4'00'' (1000 m)
22 August	4 km jogging
23 August	5 km, track	21'21'' (4'16'' / km)