Runner's bliss, captured

Immerse yourself into a session on the tracks, where a group of like-minded people gathers every week for intervals and to enjoy their company. There are smiles and good vibes everywhere: Is it because they look forward to delicious Greek pastries afterwards or has it to do with running itself?

Simon Mair August 21, 2026 — 3 minutes read

Runner's bliss, captured — Runners on the tracks in Cinquantenaire create blurry shapes.

Every week a group of people meet at Cinquantenaire to run intervals. What started small, became a center piece for many people in their weekly routine. Where other people decide to sleep in, these runners choose to get up early.

I am one of them. We all choose to be there, because we want to improve our running, and because we enjoy to train in good company.

To be fair, it also helps that we go for coffee and pastries to a nearby Café afterwards. Before choosing between Greek delicacies, we choose from the interval menu.

Warm up laps at conversational pace
Warm up exercises
Intervals:
- 10 x 1 minute work, 30 seconds of recovery in between
- pace guidance: increase pace by 5 seconds every interval (Thanks, coach!)
Cooldown laps
Cooldown stretches

The group of runners stretches after the interval session on a sun-filled basketball court.

Here are some impressions of happy, hard-working runners:

Some examples from the interval training on a sunny morning. While the effort is tough, the individual runners are stronger in a group. People who run together, improve together?

This edition of interval training was short and intense, with not much time to rest and recover between intervals. Other intervals may give you longer time to recover, aiming at improving a different aspect of running.

All in all variety and consistency lead to improvement: Vary the impulses, but show up consistently. Compare yourself against your previous self, not against others.