Developed by exercise physiologists Gerschler and Reindell, the theory behind the method was that a runner could run more miles at a higher level of effort if he broke up those miles into shorter distances and had rest breaks between those shorter runs. The logical conclusion was that more miles at faster speeds would lead to faster times. Gerschler and Reindell found athletes improved rapidly using interval training.

Ultimately, there was a backlash against interval training when runners got injured or burned out from the ceaseless repetition of track repeats and decreasing rest intervals. During the 60's and 70's, interval trained runners who had previously neglected longer runs found the Long Slow Distance ("LSD") approach advocated by Arthur Lydiard of New Zealand and popularized by Runners World Publisher Joe Henderson to be a soothing balm which gave them the relief they needed from the excessive preoccupation with measuring workouts on the track. What many failed to take into consideration was that Lydiard's men were doing their 20 mile workouts at 6:00-6:30 per mile. Henderson had misunderstood Lydiard and misinformed millions during the U.S. jogging and marathon boom which started in the 70's. Henderson wrote and sold magazines and even though he meant well, told people what they wanted to hear. He was not a trained coach. I spoke with him in 1978 at the Boston Marathon Runner's Expo. Henderson's marathon times improved for a few years, then got slower and slower. He eventually incorporated interval training into his running program years later, then issued an admission of misunderstanding where LSD training fit into the larger picture of long distance running training. He began to recommend speed training because he was experiencing benefits from having done speed training recently after years of avoiding it.

In between the interval years and the LSD years, the Swedes introduced a kind of free-form running they called fartlek, or speedplay. Coach Gusta Holmer's variation, called Holmer fartlek, was a more directed form of varying one's speed in workouts, sometimes simulating the changing paces in a race, but breaking up the faster segments with easier running. Hungarian Coach Mihaly Igloi introduced a variation on interval training in which runners included specific kinds of running techniques, such as high knee lifts, heel lifts (the latter are often called "butt kicks"), bounding (powerful strides with an exaggerated upward component). These methods were brought to the U.S. by his best miler, Lazlo Tabori, who coached the San Fernando Valley Track Club (SFVTC) in California. SFVTC produced women's marathon world record holder Jackie Hansen. When I was a member of the Santa Monica Track Club in the early 80's, I noticed that their workouts were drawn from Tabori's and Igloi's ideas. SMTC members told me that local high schools and colleges also used those methods.

Interval training can get a runner into shape faster, but a runner will also lose that conditioning faster if it has been developed through interval training. Interval training increases an athlete's risk of injury (as do morning runs) so runners must approach changes in their training programs gradually.

In conclusion, interval training has its purpose as a single tool among an entire set of training tools which the distance runner has at their disposal. It should be used carefully, preferably under the guidance of an experienced coach. It is most effective when preceded by months of longer distance training during which the runner exposes themself regularly to small amounts of running at the same paces that they will be doing during the interval training period.

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