30/30s
Véronique Billat's classic: 30 seconds at about your 3 km race pace, 30 seconds jogging, in two sets of ten. Keep moving in the easy halves; that keeps your heart rate high the whole set. Best outdoors or on a bike: 30 seconds is short for a treadmill to change speed.
- Time
- 41 min
- Main set
- 2 × 10 × 0:30 hard
- Good for
- Run, Track, Bike
Warm-up2 × 10 × 0:30 hardCool-down
The session
- 10:00Warm-upEasy
- 2 ×
- 10 ×
- 0:30WorkAbout 3 km race paceHard
- 0:30RecoveryKeep jogging, don't stopEasy
- 3:00RestSet done. Walk it off
- 10 ×
- 5:00Cool-downEasy
How to pace it
The fast halves are quick but controlled: about the pace you could race 3 km at, not a sprint. The jogs matter as much as the fast parts. Keep moving through them, because the point of the session is that your heart rate stays high for the whole set. If the last reps are clearly slower than the first, start a little easier next time.
Who it’s for
Runners who want a lot of time at a high aerobic effort without the long, grinding intervals of a 4×4. The short reps make a hard session feel manageable.
Running it as a group
Thirty seconds goes by fast, and nobody wants to stare at a watch to catch the change. With the cues in everyone's ears, the whole group turns on the same call and starts the set break together.
Source
Billat VL, et al. Intermittent runs at the velocity associated with maximal oxygen uptake enables subjects to remain at maximal oxygen uptake for a longer time than intense but submaximal runs. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000; 81(3): 188–196.
Host the 30/30s in PacePack
Pick it from the program library, share the code, and every phone in the group runs it on the same second, with a voice calling every interval and its effort.
The program library is part of Pro, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan. On Free, you can host Quick sessions of work and recovery with up to three runners.
iPhone only for now. Android is coming soon.
