One minute intervals

DePasquale’s go-to workout for beginners is super simple, and you can easily add it to one of your usual weekday runs. Here’s how to do it:

Use your running watch, phone or a timer to measure one minute. Run hard, but not too hard: DePasquale recommends aiming for a six or seven RPE (rate of perceived exertion) on a scale of one to 10 (10 being almost dead, one being lying in bed)
Rest for one minute. You can stop, walk or do a very light jog if you feel up to it
Repeat this one-on, one-off protocol five times. As you get fitter, you can increase the number of reps.

Pyramid

If you have access to a track, Maxwell’s pyramid workout is a great way to keep things interesting with varied distances and paces. Here’s how to do it (for reference, a standard track is 400 metres around).

Run 200m (half the track) at a comfortably hard pace. Rest for one minute.
Run 400m (the whole track) at a comfortably hard pace. Rest for one minute.
Repeat this with 600m, 800m, and 1000m distances. Then go back down the pyramid in reverse order: 800m, 600m, 400m, and 200m. This can be a tough workout to pace, so add longer rests as needed.

Minutes

Norris loves time-based intervals because they can be adapted to any ability level. As you get fitter, you can increase the duration of your reps, and you can also use them to learn what paces you can hold comfortably for different lengths of time.

All you need is a watch or timer for this workout. Here’s how to get started:

Run two minutes at 70–80% effort.
Do a slow recovery jog for two minutes.
Repeat five to eight times.

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