What's your favorite interval workout?

[JosephTree]

ElyDave, I just saw your question for me. It's been a busy weekend.
No, Im not any sort of official Maff-iosi. The program just seems to make excellent sense and I want to apply the bits and pieces I've picked up to my daily runs. I don't have an HR monitor, and I haven't gotten the hang of counting and multiplying. I think I'll buy a book and soak up the real guts of the method and do it right. Meanwhile, I'm at the end of a long stretch of conscious slow running, and feel stronger than I ever have. I did one race a couple weeks ago, a trail race of just over 7 miles, and while I still had to walk the steepest parts, I was faster and more comfortable as I cruised than I ever remember being. I finished well inside the top 25% (210th of 882), too, which I've never done in a well attended race. I will keep you all informed as I do some hill repeats and such and get geared up for my upcoming race season.

 

[zapmamak]

Funny. Pretty much all my running is interval work. My favorite is the Tabata. Run at 100% for 20 seconds on then 10 seconds off. Repeat for 8 reps. I also do the 800s and mile time trials on a semi-regular basis.

 

[ajb422]

My favorites are quarter mile hill repeats. I like hills. Or half mile sorta flat intervals. I refuse to run on a track or seldom a treadmill so they are approximate distances and not really all that flat. I am up to about 3 or 4 repeats or intervals depending on the day, but that is normally after an hour of some other work out. It takes me too long to warm up to try and warm up running and then do all out intervals too so I do them after doing something else. Normally it ends up as sort of a build up that maxes out about 3/4 of the way through the interval. I can't run them at a completely steady pace.

Actually I lie, those are what I'm doing to attempt to get faster so I can run with other people. Turns out most people don't like the "well lets just go run 15 miles at a really slow pace today" method of running, but by far my favorite interval "training", is just going to the trails and picking a rock or tree to race to. And yes I recognize there is a name for this "training" but I don't really feel like doing things we used to do as kids for the fun of it deserves special names . Fartleks are fun though. Even more fun when running with someone. Its really closer to inline with my sort of running philosophy.