Intervals

I hate running before work because of the time constraints, but I suppose that's a good reason to do intervals. This morning's intervals (I prefer "modified fartlek", because there is no rest period) were to and back on a 500m stretch of road. "To"s (meant as recovery) at 8 mins/mile pace, "back"s at 2:20, 2:00, 2:10 and 2:05. When I did the 4th and last one I thought I was on a 5th (and had run 5K under 20 mins) but then common sense prevailed. To run 5K under 20 mins I would need to maintain that 500m in 2:00 pace for 20 minutes. Dang!

I watched an Athletics grand prix on TV the other day. The distance runners are fast - their strides don't seem too different than mine, but they run 800s and 1500s using the same footspeed as I do 100s. Maybe I should try running all out and increase the time.

Footspeed is more a mental thing, I think. When I used to bike consistently on a high cadence I noticed this carried over to my running as well. Trying to coax yourself to do something fast and maintain it requires willpower, and I don't think I've got that as of yet.

I looked up some training plans for 800s and 1600s. They seem to emphasize running 100s and 200s, with 3 minutes rest in between. 3 minutes? I run for aerobic benefit, so somehow sprinting for 15, 30 seconds followed by 3 seconds of complete rest doesn't seem right - I know it won't give me much aerobic benefit. Any thoughts on that - to rest between sets or not?