Interval Running for All Levels: A Complete Guide For the Beginners

Running is a traditional way to achieve your desired results regarding weight loss, body shape, and muscular strength, but long-distance running is a time-consuming procedure and doesn’t involve higher-intensity sprints. Interval running is an advanced form of running that not only fits your lifestyle needs but also helps you achieve the best results.

Interval Running is the best cardiovascular exercise and a vital component of fitness training as it involves very little equipment and can be performed anywhere. Interval running is the best choice for you if you are a busy individual. If you are looking for fitness improvement techniques that are not time-consuming and can be performed at any place without a time limit, interval running is the best option for you. So don’t worry if you don’t have enough time for long runs, just perform interval running as it offers you greater intensity in your workouts instead of a typical slow jog. It is quite a superb technique to improve your fitness. 

Keep reading this article for complete guidance about interval running plans for all levels, their benefits, and potential risks.

What is Interval Running?

This is a technique of structuring your running workouts to increase your intensity and bring more aerobic improvements with less time spent per workout. The Department of Interval Training for Fitness recommended that healthy people 20 to 60 years old participate in such moderate aerobic exercises for 25 minutes five days per week. To meet this recommendation you can replace it with 30 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity 3 days per week.Therefore, interval running can be defined as “the period of high intensity running alternated with low intensity running, rest or walking”. This cycle reduces the overall total training time and allows for greater intensity within the workout.

A Comprehensive Guide for Interval Running

To design an intensive interval running plan, you should focus on the most important factors, including:

• Weekly frequency.
• Time spent in each running interval.
• Number of running intervals.

You can plan your interval running by keeping each interval period of 15 to 50 seconds with a high-intensity period, followed by 15 to 60 seconds at a lower-intensity pace. Your trainer will term it as “duty cycles”. 

High-intensity pace means you should run a workout faster than you could physically sustain for 20 to 30 minutes. The low-intensity pace refers to a brief recovery period before the next high-intensity pace.  The ratio of high-intensity to low-intensity time varies based on your specific fitness goals, time available for workout, and conditioning level. The specific duration of your duty cycle depends on your fitness demands.

Your work-rest ratio, referred to as the ratio of high intensity to low intensity is the key variable in designing your interval running program. In higher-intensity workouts you achieve greater improvements in your maximum aerobic capacity and more muscle fibers work during this activity than in other slower, longer jogs. It means the structure of your interval running programs allow far more time spent at higher intensities as compared to a traditional running plan.

Your baseline fitness level and specific training goals decide the beat interval running plan for you.

Anaerobic Versus Aerobic Training

You can target the different energy systems in your body depending on your specific fitness goals with the help of interval running programs. Aerobic and anaerobic systems are the main sources of energy used in interval running. Aerobic or anaerobic both the systems contribute energy to some extent but their amount of contribution depends directly on the specific interval you used. Aerobic training brings improvements such as improved efficiency in your cardiovascular system and increased endurance. While anaerobic training includes increased maximal power, increased muscle growth, and greater maximal speed.

Most fitness trainers or coaches suggest a minimum 4-week workout plan on either anaerobic or aerobic improvements for the duration of the program. 

You can start your interval training with at least one period focused on aerobic improvements to build a strong base. Thus, you can prepare your muscles and joints for the intensity of aerobic training. 

General Training Plan and Improvement Tracking

Before an interval running session, warm up your body with at least ten minutes of light jogging. As a beginner, you may start with just a few duty cycles per workout, thrice per week. You can also add additional duty cycles each week as you get your fitness goals. Don’t prefer to do maximal intensity intervals until you build up a baseline fitness level with your aerobic intervals.You can track your improvements by tracking the distance you cover in each high-intensity interval. You don’t need any heart rate monitor or long calculations to track your improvement. Even clear signs of improvements are tracked through a rough estimate from running around a track. But wearing a heart rate monitor will give you a more precise method of tracking by comparing it with the distance traveled and your perceived exertion. On waking up, track your resting heart rate because it is the easiest way to measure your cardiovascular improvement as targeting aerobic benefits for a non-athlete. A more efficient aerobic system is indicated by a lower resting heart rate. Keep it in mind!

Performing three 15-minute light jogging sessions in the week following your completion of each phase of the program before continuing will help you avoid over-training.

Interval Running Plan for A BeginnerAs a beginner, you should start your aerobic interval running with this program. Warm up your body with five minutes of light jogging to increase your intensity by roughly 65% of your maximal effort for 20 seconds. Again jog slowly for another 20 seconds after the intense interval and repeat it three times. Perform this workout plan thrice a week for 6 weeks. Keep adding a dirty cycle each week. In the last week, you should perform a total of 5 intervals per workout, thrice per week. The total workout duration should be 8 to 10 minutes by week 6 and it must be combined with your warm-up duration. 

Interval Running Workout for You as A Beginner:

• Perform a light jogging warm up for five minutes.
• Run 20 seconds at 65% intensity followed by 20 seconds at 30% intensity.
• Repeat for 2 cycles on week 1.
• Do this workout twice a week with the addition of a cycle every week for 6 weeks.

Interval Running Plan for Intermediate Level

After performing a 6-week beginner program, you will be able to add a training session. At the intermediate level of the interval running program, you should perform three sessions per week and add several cycles each week.

For this level, three cycles per week are good, followed by a one-minute rest. Then repeat the cluster two more times. Then add one more cycle to each cluster after performing each workout three times per week for 6 weeks. By week 6, you will be performing three clusters of six intervals. This will make a total of 18 intervals and roughly 30 minutes of total workout time.

Interval Running Workout for Intermediate-Level:

• Perform a light jog for five minutes to warm you up.
• Run for 20 seconds at 65% intensity followed by 20 seconds at 30% intensity.
• Repeat for three cycles followed by 60 seconds rest. This makes one cluster.
• Add two more clusters per workout in the first week. By the end of the week, there will be a total; of nine cycles divided into three clusters.
• Perform this plan three to four times a week with the addition of an interval cycle to each cluster per week.

Interval Running Plan for Advanced Level

Once you complete the beginners and intermediate interval running programs, you will enter the 10-week plans of interval running. This is the point where you can opt to continue to push your aerobic capacity with the advanced aerobic training program, begin the anaerobic training plan, or maintain your fitness with the intermediate program.For the advanced interval running plan, you may begin with 4 clusters of 5 cycles using a 35-second interval. Each week you will add a cluster per workout. By week 6, you will be performing 7 clusters of 5 cycles for roughly 40 minutes of total workout time, including the warm up. 

Interval Running Workout for Advanced Level:

• Perform a light jogging warm up for 5 minutes.
• Run for 20 seconds at 65% intensity followed by 20 seconds at 30% intensity.
• Repeat for five cycles followed by 60 seconds rest.
• Perform 4 complete clusters in the first week. Your first-week workouts will be of a total of 15 cycles divided into 5 clusters.
• Perform the workout 4 times per week with the addition of a cluster to each workout per week.

Advantages of Interval Running

Interval running has many beneficial impacts on your fitness including lower heart rate and reduced blood pressure levels. Although these beneficial effects are linked with standard aerobic exercises, interval running is a major part of your aerobic workout program.

However, more advantages are also linked with interval running that you can get by increasing your intensity level during hard intervals.According to new research, interval running has multiple health benefits including:

• Decreased risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
• Improved capacity to utilize oxygen.
• Decreased level of blood pressure.
• Improved blood glucose levels.

You will be astonished that these all are also associated with traditional longer-duration running at slower paces but your confusion will vanish after acknowledging that interval running offers you additional benefits over traditional running, including increased insulin sensitivity and reduced workout durations for similar results.

Calories Burning through Interval Running: Many factors influence the number of calories you burn in an interval running session, such as your fitness level and current weight, the total number of intervals used, and the intensity of each work interval.For instance, if you take a 15-minute session of aerobic exercise like interval running, it may burn 200 to 450 calories per day. However, more research has appeared that claims that the increased intensity from interval increases your metabolic rate after your workout, burning more calories at rest. So a shorter amount of time is consumed in interval running which gives you huge advantages.

Combined with a proper nutrition plan, this may also help you in weight loss programs.

Potential Risks of Interval Running

1. Healthcare providers and strength training coaches suggest that interval running is the safest way to improve cardiovascular health via shorter duration of aerobic exercises. But still, some potential risks are associated with interval training. These are mainly linked with increased intensity and impact you during the faster-paced intervals. It impacts your hips, knees, and ankles during faster running. You may feel sore after your first couple of interval workouts. Your joints and bones take more time to adapt to the stress put by your muscles during running. 
2. A slow start at the beginning of interval running will mitigate the potential for injury. For beginners, 5 to 10 minutes of warm up jogging with a brief sprint at the end twice a week for 4 weeks will help in adapting to running.
3. As an experienced runner, but not with intervals, you should start with a beginner’s program and start with a single cluster for the first few weeks. Give two days between sessions at the beginning.
4. Avoid over loading too quickly to make your body adapt better to the stress. This may also ensure adequate recovery.
5. If you are not used to a regular exercise program, a brisk walk will be a good replacement for a high-intensity interval and a slow walk for a low-intensity interval.
6. The final recommendation to avoid risks, is always to take an active rest week in between 6-week sessions. Brief walks or jogs are enough to maintain your fitness while allowing your body to recover for the next phase of training.

Conclusion

Interval running is the safest and most effective technique to improve your anaerobic and aerobic fitness along with your cardiovascular health. The interval workouts are popular for their less total time than traditional workouts. Similarly, interval running is more effective than traditional distance running. It also allows greater intensity during the workout itself.

You can adjust your interval duration to target different energy systems working in your body, according to your fitness goals. Most importantly, take a slower start and feel easy into interval training, particularly if you’re a beginner. Interval Training offers you an excellent pathway to replace a long traditional workout with a workout that adds intense aerobic and anaerobic exercise to your workout programs.