Intervals

So, Ana, one of my instructors/friends gave me some tips about working on my speed.  She recommended I to Intervals.  Basically, what you do is walk 1 minute, jog at a comfortable pace 1 minute, then jog all out as fast as you possibly can for 1 last minute.  Then start back again at the walk.  While doing the couch-2-5k, towards the end of the program I was jogging at a speed of about 4.5.  That was pretty much my top speed.  Now I'm ready to step that up.

I've done intervals twice this week.  First time, I had 4.5 be the speed for the comfortable jog, then for the all out I pushed myself to a 6.5 on the treadmill.  I ended up doing 7 sets.  Twice I did have to walk for 2 minutes rather than the 1, just to try to catch my breath a bit more!  The last set, I did end up pushing my speed even more and made it 1 minute at a 7.0!  Great workout!

The second set was pretty much the same as the first, with two differences.  I only had to walk for an extra minute during 1 of the intervals.  And I did 7.0 for 3 of the 7 sets.  My goal is to go 7.0 for all of the sets next time. 

I am really surprised that I was able to push myself to that speed.  It really felt great!