[deltaonenine]

This is real and scientifically validated. The first person who ran the 4 minute mile changed the game by using intervals. Prior to that everyone trained for the mile by running the mile.

Athletes who train for the mile have to have intervals as the majority of their regiment. This is by far more effective then running long distances for increasing vo2 max.

[tonyarkles]

Oh, yeah, that’s a detail I forgot! I didn’t actually try running a 5k before the race! (I had done a bunch of 5s and 10s before the injury though) I went into it not knowing, even a little bit, what my overall time might be. Mostly that was because I didn’t particularly care at that point, I was just happy to be back running again.