Fartlek/intervals trainingr

[Fishandjam]

I am a really slow runner, and would like to speed up! I know the answer is probably intervals, but where do I start? (I can run 5k comfortably in 33mins, 10k in almost exactly double that.) If anyone has undertaken a similar improvement plan and succeeded, I'd love to hear your tips.

I'm very interested to see what replies you get. I'm very similar for 5k (never tried 10k!) and would like to speed up.

I decided to give it a go tonight - 30 seconds sprinting and 30 seconds walking, repeated. I managed 15 mins with a few 30 second jogs as well as walks, and now I feel a bit sick and my (long battled) shin pain has returned Maybe I need to start smaller!

How much are you running Fish?

IMO a really good base is necessary before doing any real speedwork, or you risk injury. 3 months of running an hour 4 times a week at least.

My best tip would be to join a club, but if you have a decent base, try making one of your runs a threashold run, which means running close to race pace, either for the whole run or for 20 min blocks.

Once you've done that for a few weeks introduce some intervals. Personally, I think if you're training for 5/10k or longer, 30 second intervals are too short and run an unnecessary risk of injury. Try 1-2 min with a similar rest and reduce the rest as you get fitter. You need to do them at a pace you can sustain for the whole session. 4-5 reps to start with and build up.

Doing them on a hill is fun!

Should have said a base of 3 months, 4 times a week, injury free.

We used to do hills as part of intervals (I ran sprints competitively when younger! 100m and hurdles)
Sprint up, jog back down, repeat