Ive been doing more cardio recently and enjoying it. Id like to Try a little interval training involving sprints

Theres a park Just down from me thats 3 football pitches long. Good length and marked out. I was planing on using this for it one day at the weekend.

How would this sound for a lightish start

(numbers represent number of football pitches covered)

6 to warmup
stretch

1 jog, 1 sprint, 2 jog, 1 sprint, 1 walk. Repeat x?

The abovew is 6 pitches which would take me up and back down the park 1 time. I have no idea how many times or how long Interval training should last!

Most people do 30/60 sprint/jog, which more or less averages out at sprinting one, jogging one (if you sprint twice as fast as you jog)...

Rilla wrote:Most people do 30/60 sprint/jog, which more or less averages out at sprinting one, jogging one (if you sprint twice as fast as you jog)...

Dont you walk some of the time during inerval training?

1 sprint for every 1 jog sounds tough to keep up man!

You could also do 50/50 sprint/walk - that'd end up being something like sprint one length, walk 1/4, rinse repeat. Or you could mix it up with walking/jogging sprinting like suggested in your initial post.

Rab wrote:
1 sprint for every 1 jog sounds tough to keep up man!

Yea, you should be able to kill yourself in about ten minutes of doing that...

I do this:

• Sprint 20-50m* -> rest 1minute -> repeat 10 times
• rest 10mins
• repeat Sprints

So you actually do 20 sprints. I've found this really good. It was recommended routine from T-Nation.

Remember: you run on the ground, you sprint over it

* start off at less distance sprinted, then increase. Going to far to start with is crazy.

health4ni wrote:I do this:

• Sprint 20-50m* -> rest 1minute -> repeat 10 times
• rest 10mins
• repeat Sprints

So you actually do 20 sprints. I've found this really good. It was recommended routine from T-Nation.

Remember: you run on the ground, you sprint over it

* start off at less distance sprinted, then increase. Going to far to start with is crazy.

I had a read at it. I like the sound of that wee program.

So....on the 3 football pitch length I plan on training on i could do the followig to fit into about a 15-20min timeframe.

few laps to warmup

1/2 pitch jog into 1/2 pitch sprint .....walk 1/2 pitch slowly........repeat

half a footie pitch is about 50 yards....one of them is a little bigger but its only a few yards per 1/2 extra.

I have the half pitch jog before the sprint as the article suggest its a rolling start, rather than a sprinters start.

Cheers

Your suggestion sounds fine as interval training with some sprints, but due to the "rest" being more active then the sprints might not actually be full out sprinting if you get meh. The routine I do allows you to have enough rest (well, 1 min) to then sprint fully in the knowledge that this is good sprinting.

But it's gonna work. Try both and see how you feel about them.

health4ni wrote:Your suggestion sounds fine as interval training with some sprints, but due to the "rest" being more active then the sprints might not actually be full out sprinting if you get meh. The routine I do allows you to have enough rest (well, 1 min) to then sprint fully in the knowledge that this is good sprinting.

But it's gonna work. Try both and see how you feel about them.

Good point. the sprints aint going to be as productive that way.

I do want to give the interval training a bash but the sprinting article on TN was interesting. Ill give both a bash.

Gave the sprinting a shot tonight and jebus my hams and clafs are already sore! Not to be sniffed at!

Another variation we used to use for rubgy was to use the lines on a pitch to swap between sprinting and walking. Mimicked the use in a game very well.

I kind of did that last night

I used a football pitch and paced out the 50 yard sprints and walking mostly using the lines. My hams are sore today in a way and places that weights just dont hit! my calfs are pretty done aswell!

That'll do it.

Try doing that over 2 lots of 40 mins

No thanks. 10 min last night and i was pretty fecked! Ill need to build it up but it should come pretty fast as im new to it!

everyone should do sprints that wants good leg development. They really are great.

After feeling the way they worked my legs, Im convinced of the above. Holly smokes!

I plan on keeping them as something i get in every 10 days or less.

^^ good idea

I also find that the Tibialis muscle gets a hammering and is always sore for me; this I cannot reproduce in the gym (normally anyway). Although this is perhaps more pronounced for me as I do the sprints outside my home which is up a hill.

Defo a muscle that will be worked allot harder when running uphill with the position your feet have to drive from.

I have found today that the musles that are hurting are all little ones that dont get hit during a weights leg workout....Highlighting the fact that there are little muscles getting overpowered and hence underdeveloped due to me only using one angle of training on them.

besides that...my hamstrings are as still as feck now !

health4ni wrote:^^ good idea

I also find that the Tibialis muscle gets a hammering and is always sore for me; this I cannot reproduce in the gym (normally anyway). Although this is perhaps more pronounced for me as I do the sprints outside my home which is up a hill.

A friend of mine has this issue simply running an a Treadmill and keeps getting told it's shin splints but he's not convinced as it's more of a cramping/lactic build up sensation.

health4ni wrote:^^ good idea

I also find that the Tibialis muscle gets a hammering and is always sore for me; this I cannot reproduce in the gym (normally anyway). Although this is perhaps more pronounced for me as I do the sprints outside my home which is up a hill.

Hill sprints are phenomenal...I used to do them weekly as part of my speedwork when I was running and have just reintroduced them again

Alex wrote:A friend of mine has this issue simply running an a Treadmill and keeps getting told it's shin splints but he's not convinced as it's more of a cramping/lactic build up sensation.

I'm certainly no shin splint expert, but I'd say that it's as you suspect a simple soreness / lactate build up of the tibialis muscle. AFAIK if you have shin splints you'll get pain a lot more often; perhaps everyday at it's worst when walking, and defo when doing any fast walking / running etc.

ollie wrote:Hill sprints are phenomenal...I used to do them weekly as part of my speedwork when I was running and have just reintroduced them again

Today is al egs day for me and I really want to do squats, RDLs etc. BUT as today is so nice and I don't get out that much (don't have a garden either) then hill sprints it is

my mate at uni submitted a machine template for his thesis. he was pretty well versed on the tibialis anterior, he was also a long distance runner.
he said the reason most people get pain in the TA is due to a muscular inbalance between the TA and the Gastroc and Soleus muscles (calf muscles) and so creating a tightening of the TA which was exacerbated by running.

his machine although very rudimentary, simply required the user to dorsiflex. this can be done easily enough whereever you are- just put your feet firmly on the ground and keeping them on the ground just try curling your toes towards your shins (daft i know but a visualisation technique) and you will soon feel the TA muscle contracting- over time you can start putting weight plates on your feet for resistance