The Springbok Sevens team came from behind to win the HSBC Singapore Sevens final in emphatic fashion.
Just how the team manage to overcome a half-time deficit of 0-19 is a combination of many factors, but one crucial element is how they managed to rev their engines – perform at speed – for such an extended period of time.
You, as runner, can benefit from their style of interval training even though you might never don the Green and Gold or run a big race.
Make the good old '4x4' part of your training regime. Start with one interval day per week. Here's how:
- Warm up for 15 minutes.
- Then, on a flat, safe road (trail or track) up your effort to around 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. Keep the pace for four minutes.
- Follow this with four minutes of (very light) active recovery - a slow trot or even a walk.
- Repeat four times.
- Finish with a 10-minute cool down.
If your base fitness is not at a level where you can sustain four minutes as that effort (it is going to hurt!) then start with two minutes hard, four minutes recovery.
