Day 21: Try interval training on your run

[Leanna]

We’ll be posting a new challenge every day leading up to summer! Follow along here, on the blog, or using this calendar.

There are only ten days left of our 30-day summer countdown! How many of you have hit every day so far?

Today we have another fun challenge to make you sweat: Try interval training on your run!

Interval training is a training method that mixes up low- and high-intensity exercise. It’s a great way to shake up your routine, so if you tend to get bored on your runs, this may be a great alternative for you! Some even say it burns more calories.

Here’s a 30-minute interval run to try today:

Warm up: Take five minutes to warm up your body with a fast walk or slow jog – whatever you’re comfortable with.

Jog: 3 minutes. Go at a comfortable pace that doesn’t tire you out too quickly. If you’re a beginner runner, try walking instead.

Run: 1 minute. Go at about 60% of your max speed.

Jog: 3 minutes. Let your breathing/heart rate go back to normal. Again, use this time to walk if you’re new to running.

Run: 1 minute. Stick to that 60% pace.

Jog: 3 minutes. Try to keep your jogs/walks at the same pace each time, and save your speed increases for the sprints.

Run: 1 minute. Push your speed up to 70% this time!

Jog: 3 minutes. You should be feeling it by now…

Run: 1 minute. One more time at 70%!

Jog: 3 minutes. Prepare yourself for one last sprint!

Run: 1 minute. This is your last push before the end! Kick it up to 80% while the end is in sight.

Cool-down: 5 minutes. You made it! Keep walking or jogging until your breathing/heart rate have slowed down. Then don’t forget to drink water and stretch or roll-out your muscles.

If you’re not a runner, try walking at different speeds instead of running for the whole half-hour, or bring interval training to your strength workout instead!

How did you do on today’s challenge? Let us know in the comments, or using #30DaysToSummerFit!

This was originally posted on the Fitbit blog.

[WavyDavey]

Seems like it's time to acknowledge this post, after some years.

[WendyB]

Not really this was a daily challenge posted back in the day

It is a good idea though

[WavyDavey]

I was just trying to get it off the unanswered questions list. But I see it's just been replaced by another, so futile effort on my part. 🙂