Interval Training

I have been running intervals since my very first race in 2010. At the time I didn't realize that intervals were a thing, and was adamant that I was not a runner because of how much I had to walk.

At that time it was simply survive from point A to point B and you'll be rewarded with not being tortured by running. I ran the 3.1 miles at my first race on my 25th birthday and I thought I was going to die. I hated every second of it (other than the fact I was running with my sister, but even that was frustrating at the time because the race was her idea and she kept pushing me to run farther, lol!)

After that race, and the 10K mud run a few months later where we used the same technique, I took a break from running because, well, it was hard and I hated pushing myself. 

But at the same time I so desperately wanted to love it. I would see people out running and they made it look so pretty, so effortless. So I tried again, this time using my iPod and running every other song. Another form of intervals, yet 2:30-4+ minutes if running at a time was exhausting, and still not something I wanted to do. I had to drag myself out to run and when I was finished I was disappointed with the hard effort for the short distance. 

So I stopped again. 

Until I got the bright idea to join my sister on her bucket list item of running a marathon before her 30th birthday. It wasn't so much the idea of attempting to run again that appealed to me this time (been there, done that), but the idea of spending time with my sister. As much as I hated my first 5K race while I was running it, I enjoyed the time I spent with my sister and loved how our relationship completely changed at that point. I figured the benefits out weighed the impending pain.

Being the fantastic researcher and planner that she is, my sister found a group of runners who were training for the same marathon we were. She told me about the Galloway method and how she really wanted to train with the group. 

I wasn't so excited. I barely wanted to run out on the streets in public where people could see me, let alone purposefully in front of a group. What if I ran weird? What if I slowed everyone down? What if they laughed at me for trying to be a runner? What if, what if, what if??? 

She sold me at the idea of one free running session. That was it, it was all I had to commit to. One Saturday, 3 miles. If I hated it I could walk away from the idea and we would go onto the next one. 

As with most things I'm afraid to try, I fell in love with it. The method, the group, the accountability, everything. Who knew there were so many others who used the combination of running/walking, who accepted it as their way of making it through any distance and who considered themselves runners!! 

It opened my eyes to a whole new world of running and sparked my interest of attempting to be a runner again. This time it stuck though because it was "easy". Easy in the sense that you weren't supposed to feel like you were dying at the end and the fact that I didn't feel like I was going to die during or after the run. 

I was hooked, and have been ever since. 

I would be lost without my interval timer. It's easy and convenient and pretty.. 

But, I've become comfortable with my 30:1 intervals. I don't feel like I'm really pushing myself and at some point this year I would love to PR both my half and full marathon times and I feel as though my best opportunity to do this is not necessarily to increase my speed, but rather increase the amount of time I'm running and decrease the amount of time I'm walking. 

So that's what I have scheduled for this year. I have set it up so that just about every three weeks I change my intervals by 5 seconds. It may not seem like much, but I want to do this right and keep it going, not shock my body into an injury for pushing too hard too fast. 

By the end of the year I should be up to running 1 minute, 45 seconds and walking 45 seconds. Seems crazy to me now, since I'm currently only up to 40:1, but I feel that I'm already out of my comfort zone without wanting to give up completely. And the proof is in the watch. I feel as though I'm running the same speed, just for a longer amount of time and my mile times have been faster than what they were at 30:1.

Hopefully that excited feeling stays when I'm running longer than I'm walking.. But I'm sure it will, because if I can see results already from a 10 second difference, imagine what it could be in the coming months!