Increase Your Running Stamina with Interval Training

Use interval training. There are several benefits to interval training that will help you get the most out of your runs, and increase your stamina.

Improve cardiovascular capacity. Endurance running can take wind out of you. By using the interval training, you'll increase your anaerobic capacity (oxygen-depleting). And when you combine this with aerobic capacity (oxygen-building with easy runs and long runs), these will end up making you faster.
Burning calories. Bursts of energy (the high-intensity part of interval training) will increase the amount of calories you burn. This is true even for relatively short bursts.
It adds interest to your running routine. It may seem a small thing, but boredom with your normal running routine can make it much harder to stay motivated.

Perform steady intervals. This is the easiest way to incorporate interval training. You simply alternate equal periods of high and low-intensity running.Start with a ten to fifteen minute warm-up. Start with a rapid walk followed by a slow jog, picking up speed at the end of the warm-up to break into a full run. This will make sure your body is properly warmed-up before you begin the intense speed work
If you are first starting out doing intervals, you need to train your body to get used to the hard intervals. Run at high speed for one minute followed by two minutes of slow running or walking. Repeat these intervals six to eight times. Do this for several weeks until you feel comfortable with the rest. Then lower your recovery/rest time by 30 seconds until you are running 50/50 burst (such as one minute burst followed by one minute rest). Make sure you and your body are ready to increase the intensity of the faster pace intervals and reduce your rest/recovery period before you reduce the rest/recovery time.
End with a fifteen to twenty-five minute cool-down. Ease from a run to a light jog, and then gradually slow to a walk towards the end of the cool-down period.

Use pyramid interval training. Pyramid intervals start with short bursts of high intensity and then build up so that the longest period of high-intensity training is in the middle of your workout. Then, you gradually pull back to the shorter burst of intensity before completing your cool down. This is somewhat more complex than steady intervals, and you may want to use a stopwatch to maintain your times.

• Warm up for ten to fifteen minutes. As described above, begin with a rapid walk followed by a light jog, picking up speed at the end of the warmup so that you are running at high intensity at the end of the warmup period.
• Run for 30 seconds at high intensity. Then, run at low intensity for one minute. Continue as follows:
• 45 seconds high, one-minute, fifteen-second low.
• 60 seconds high, one-minute, thirty-second low.
• 90 seconds high, two minute low.
• 60 seconds high, one-minute, thirty-second low.
• 45 seconds high, one-minute, fifteen-second low.
• 30 seconds high, one minute low.
• Finish up with a twenty-minute to thirty-minute cool down, ending at a comfortable walk.
• NOTE--> When you start out any interval training program, you need to make sure your body is adjusted and ready to start it. Doing too much too soon can lead to injuries. Just like when you are building up your mileage, you don't just build up. You gradually build up. IF you are pointing to a specific race, you do longer intervals with longer rest several months before the race. As the race approaches, you increase the intensity and shorten the recovery.

Do variable intervals. If you play sports like tennis in addition to running, you know that speed and stamina requirements vary according to the conditions of the game. Variable intervals help you to mix up short and long high-intensity intervals in an unpredictable pattern, which more closely mimics the irregular bursts of speed that are part of typical playing conditions.

• Warm up for ten to fifteen minutes of easy running.
• Mix it up. Run for two minutes at high intensity and then jog slowly for two-minutes, thirty-seconds. Run at top speed for 30 seconds and then jog for 45 seconds. Mix up your intervals at random. Just make sure that you rest for longer periods after longer high-intensity intervals than you do for short bursts. When starting out, keep your rest periods slightly longer until your body is ready to shorten the rest intervals.
• Cool down for fifteen to twenty-five minutes.

Use the interval setting on a treadmill. When you run intervals on a treadmill, the machine mixes up both the speed and the incline, presenting you with new and unpredictable challenges. Just make sure to warm up and cool down afterward if these periods aren't built into the interval training program.