When you run hard during tempo and interval sessions, your muscles produce waste products (like lactate) that make your legs feel heavy and tired. As much as you might dread this feeling, it’s a good sign and means you are pushing yourself!

Your body has to move waste out of the muscles to keep going. That’s why you need to take recovery periods in between hard interval efforts to be able to continue.

Different types of tempo and interval sessions will involve different types of recovery periods, designed to test and develop your fitness in different ways. Here’s a breakdown of the different types of recovery you’ll see in your sessions.

A static rest is when you stop running completely between intervals. Static recoveries are seen in sessions where you are pushing hard and aiming to run fast. By completely resting in between these efforts, it is easier to repeatedly run hard as it is the quickest way to bring your heart rate back down. Although intervals are hard and you might be tempted to stop completely in between efforts, it can help to avoid static recoveries as they can make your legs feel a bit stiff.

An active recovery period during intervals can either be a walk, a very gentle jog or a slightly brisker jog, known as a 'float' recovery. How long the active recovery period is between your reps will vary depending on the distance of the intervals and amount of reps you are doing, but usually it will be between 60-120 seconds. Different types of active recovery can develop your fitness in different ways, here's how:

A walking recovery is the most common type of recovery you’ll see in your interval sessions. Walking between hard efforts helps to bring your heart rate and breathing back down to normal, whilst keeping your legs moving very gently to prevent your muscles from tightening up.

Here is an example of a walking recovery in an interval session:

1km repeats: 6x1km repeats at your target 5k pace, with a 90 second walking rest between each effort.

Your Runna plan will guide you seamlessly through recovery periods in your interval sessions, timing each one, letting you know when to walk, and when to prepare for your next interval.

A jog recovery is where you keep running between intervals, but at an easy pace. This makes sure your legs don’t stiffen up between hard efforts, ensuring consistent blood flow to your working muscles. A jog recovery is often used in hill sessions. For example, you might run a high intensity interval uphill, and then return to the base of the hill each time by jogging slowly. In this case, your gentle jog recovery is assisted by the downhill.

Here is an example of a jog recovery in a hill session:

Hill repeats: 60 seconds of running hard uphill, followed by an easy jog back down between efforts.

The pace of a jog recovery won't always be super gentle. If the training session is designed to challenge your endurance, the pace of the recovery jog will be similar to your easy run pace. To account for this, the pace of the intervals in these types of sessions won't be as punchy.

A float recovery, sometimes also known as a ‘rolling’ or ‘roll on’ recovery is a different type of recovery used in tempo runs that can be used to improve your speed endurance.

Instead of slowing down to a complete stop, walk, or gentle jog, you keep running at a moderate pace (‘floating’). The pace of your ‘float’ will vary depending on the session you are doing. This means that your body has to practice clearing out waste like lactic acid, while still moving fairly quickly, not just when you’re jogging slowly or stopped.

By training this way, your body can get better at handling and clearing waste from your muscles at faster speeds. Over time, this can help you feel stronger when you’re racing or running hard, because your body becomes more efficient at keeping your legs fresh at faster speeds for longer.

A float recovery can also be beneficial if you’re trying to build up your total running volume, as when you stay moving between harder efforts you naturally accumulate more mileage without depleting your energy levels too much.

Floating 1200s: 1200m (1.2k) at marathon effort, with a 400m float at a steady run effort.

Floating 1ks: 1000m (1k) at half marathon effort, with a 400m float at a steady run effort.

The right type of recovery, whether that’s stopping (passive), walking, jogging or floating (active), can make all the difference to how your fitness improves from interval and tempo sessions. With the Runna app guiding you through every interval, from timing your recoveries to letting you know exactly when to get moving again, you’ll build fitness confidently and get the most out of every session.