I am always on the lookout to try new techniques to improve running speed and endurance. A few months ago, a friend named Aparicio introduced me to a variation on interval training. For those who don’t know, interval training is a high intensity workout involving sprints followed by a rest period.
For example, a 400m sprint would be followed by a 400m slow jog. However, Aparicio showed me a treadmill workout in which he removed the rest intervals and increases the intensity of each interval. Apparently, this benefits the mental aspect of the run, forcing you to “dig deep” to finish the workout. Furthermore, this is a quick workout, and easily used when time is an issue. All it requires is a treadmill.
Planning this workout takes two steps. The first is to convert your average running pace from minutes and seconds into miles per hour (mph). If you do not know how, simply divide your running speed by 60 to obtain your speed in mph. For example, if you know your average mile time is 8-min, you convert this to a treadmill speed by dividing the time by 60. This will give you a treadmill speed of 7.5mph (60/8 = 7.5). Treadmills use mph as a measure of speed and you need to know what speed to put into the treadmill.
The second step is to determine the interval speeds. This workout entails a series of 5x intervals at 3-min each. Every three minutes, you increase the intensity by 0.2mph. All in all, you go through a total of 5x intervals increasing your speed by a total of 1.0mph after 15-min of training.
Set your starting interval slightly less than the average treadmill speed you calculated, about 0.2-0.3mph below what you calculated. For our example, a good starting interval would be 7.3mph. From here, add 0.2mph to each interval to determine the speeds of each one. Again, following our example, you would end up with a workout plan similar to the one below:
1st Interval (0-3min/Treadmill Speed = 7.3)
2nd Interval (3-6min/Treadmill Speed = 7.5)
3rd Interval (6-9min/Treadmill Speed = 7.7)
4th Interval (9-12min/Treadmill Speed = 7.9)
5th Interval (12-15min/Treadmill Speed = 8.1)
Always conduct a warm-up (read about the benefits here) before conducting this workout. I would also wear the emergency stop clip on each treadmill or find a treadmill with an easily accessible (and large) emergency stop button. Like interval training, this workout is designed to be conducted at a very high intensity and you need to be prepared in case you need to suddenly stop for any reason such as fatigue, nausea, or overexertion.
Likewise, conduct a cool-down at the end of this workout. Try to resist the temptation to stop as a cool-down will increase your lactic acid removal and reduce the burning and pain in your muscles. A cool-down will also allow your muscles to help pump blood back to your heart and decrease the possibility of fainting.
By the fifth interval, possibly the fourth, you should feel you have to mentally push yourself to finish. Your intensity should be high enough to feel a slight burning sensation and possibly a little pain and discomfort in your legs. Not so much to stop your workout, but enough to force your mind to keep your legs moving. This feeling should not be in the second or within the first minute of the third interval. If this is the case, stop. Re-evaluate your workout because your intensity is too high. Furthermore, if you feel your legs are going to buckle, or feel faint, dizzy, light-headed, or nauseous, do yourself a favor and quit. It takes times to build your body up to the level you desire, but hurting yourself in the process does you or your body no favors.
Looking at the physiology of this workout, this workout trains you to increase your lactate threshold. Muscles produce and use lactate during exercise. But if production exceeds use, your body will convert lactate to lactic acid, creating a painful burning sensation in your muscles. Training at or close to your lactate threshold allows you to increase your lactate tolerance and improve your run.
Runners with a greater lactate threshold have better performance than those with a lower threshold. Training at the lactate threshold is not easy, and can be painful due to the higher level of lactate (and lactic acid) present in the muscles. This is where the mental aspect comes in. Your mind can force you to tolerate some of the burning and pain and over time increase and your lactate threshold.
To get this mental push is also the reason this workout requires a treadmill. If you perform this workout outside, you will subconsciously slow down during the final intervals. A treadmill keeps the speed constant, intensity high, and forces you to keep up and taxes your mind to force your body to finish.
As for recommendations, use this workout as a substitute for a bout of interval training to add variety to your workout. Also, I would not conduct this workout more than three times a week. This training is best coupled with low intensity long distance runs or moderate intensity tempo runs to maximize your performance gains in both running speed and performance.
I do not recommend this workout for those who have just begun to run or are returning to running after a prolonged absence. Your body needs some time to adjust to running prior to attempting any high intensity training. Give yourself several weeks to a month to allow the metabolic changes and aerobic benefits of running to manifest themselves in your body. Only then consider adding high intensity training to your routine.
Aparicio designed this with the mental aspect of exercise training in mind. A series of intervals of increasing intensity, knowing you have no rest interval, forces your mind to force your body to complete the workout. The high intensity is a plus, as this improves your lactate threshold. Over time, you will find an improvement in both running speed and time as you realize your body is able to go faster, and farther, than you might think.
