How far should I run for sprint intervals?
Sprint intervals can certainly be customized to fit your overall goal and distance that that you are training for. I recommend setting an intensity, time and distance goal for your intervals and overall workout for the day. For example, If you have a track and your goal is to run a total of 3 miles you can sprint the straights (+/-100M) and recover on the turns. This would allow you to fit in 24 sprint intervals of equal distance. The intensity and speed is up to you. This is a great way to improve your overall pace.
Good luck with your training!
It’s important to think about the energy system you are utilizing during the sprint and ask yourself, how long does it take to recover so that my body has sufficient ATP to power me effectively through the next sprint.
Too, ask yourself, is it an all out short sprint utilizing all of my power? Or is it a sprint utilizing 90% of all my power.
It is difficult to determine how far you will run during the sprint, that is dependent upon the energy system being utilized, how efficient the energy system you are utilizing is and how fast you can sprint.
Hope this is helpful.
Hi Jared. Like other types of exercise, your sprint training should be used to mirror the purpose for which you are doing this type of training. I’m going to assume that you’re doing this type of workout to prepare for a certain sport or physical activity, so taking a look at your typical ‘work-to-rest ratio’ for your sport will help you to answer your own question. Unless your sport incorporates fairly consistent sprints of a certain distance (say 40 yards), then I would conduct my sprint intervals for TIME instead of distance. By doing that, this would allow you to calibrate the duration of your work (i.e. sprint) and then the duration of your rest before running your next sprint. To my mind, this would be a more effective way to do your sprint or anaerobic training if your intention is to prepare for competition.
I hope that this helps.
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
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