How to do an Interval Workout with Pace Coach

10 Steps For Using Pace Coach for Intervals

Interval workouts are a staple for any runner who wants to give their training a kick in the pants. There are hundreds of different ways of doing an interval session but they all share a basic structure - periods of more intense activity interspersed with moments of rest.

Pace Coach is the perfect tool to help you do interval workouts. By setting a specific Run Score you can target a pace and time for a given distance and get technique coaching to help you achieve it. Below we show how Pace Coach can be used to do one of our favorite workouts, a half mile (800m) Progression Session with 90 second rest periods.

Before beginning the workout find yourself a safe flat road, pathway or pavement around half a mile long. An out and back is fine, a loop is great, a running track is perfect. Run for around 15 minutes as a warm-up, gradually raising your heart rate.

1. Once you are ready, open the NURVV App on your smart phone and tap on the Run tab at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap Pace Coach in the centre of the screen.
3. For this Interval Workout select a Base Run from your previous run history - note it needs to be half a mile in length and completed at an effort level of around 6 out of 10. If you don’t have a Base Run that meets these criteria you can create a new one by the Create a Base Run tutorial.
   
   
   
   
4. Once you’ve selected a Base Run, you will see a Run Score for the Base Run alongside the total time it took you to run the distance and the pace you ran at. For reference, the Run Score indicates how intense your Base Run was, with 0 being very easy and 100 the maximum difficulty. Using the slider, toggle the score upwards by 1. You will see that the total time to run the distance has reduced and the pace increased. These are the targets for the next half mile effort.
   
   
   
   
5. Tap next and Pace Coach will display personalized technique targets for Step Length and Cadence. During your workout you will be given audio, visual and haptic (Apple Watch only) coaching based on these targets with the aim of optimizing your technique and matching your chosen Run Score. Click Create Workout and then Run Now to start the interval.
   
   
   
   
6. The new workout will be uploaded to the trackers and once this is complete (typically around 10 seconds) the Run button will turn white. Click the button and you will get the 3-2-1-Go countdown.
   
   
   
   
7. Once the distance has been covered, the workout will automatically stop. Pace Coach will provide insights from the interval including your Run Score and how this compared to your Target Score, plus details of how well you did at keeping your Cadence and Step Length in the target zones.
   
   
   
   
8. While you’re in your rest period you can get ready for the next interval. Simply tap on Adjust score and use the slider to increase Target Score by one point.
   
   
   
   
9. Once again you need to wait for the trackers to update with the new interval session and the Run button to turn white. Wait for the countdown, 3-2-1-Go.
10. Repeat this process as many times as required to complete your interval session.

How to use these Interval sessions to guide your training?

For each effort of increasing pace, your target Cadence and Step Length zones will nudge upwards. Your later efforts in this Progression Session will likely be stressing your current pace limits (that’s the intention!).

Examining your cadence and step length data for these later efforts should give you good direction in terms of which performance factor you might want to focus on for development – it will be the factor that you are under target in. You can use NURVV’s coaching resources to help with some ideas on how to develop your Cadence and/or Step Length.

Pace Coach can be used in a number of different ways. You can find a Guides on how to use Pace Coach for Recovery Runs here and to Run Faster here.