TheETG applied sport sciences
One of the several arguments in favor of long rather than short rest periods in interval workouts regardless of whether the workout is comprised of sprints or distance reps……..

“Repeated sprint training consists of a series of brief maximal sprints, 3–7 seconds in duration, separated by short rest periods of less than 60 seconds. However, little is known about the influence of different rest period lengths between sprints on performance adaptation.”

“We determined the influence of inserting long rest periods during repeated sprint training on performance adaptation in competitive athletes.”

“21 well-trained athletes were separated into either the short rest period group (SHORT; n = 10) or the long rest period group (LONG; n = 11).”

“The training protocol for both groups consisted of two sets of 12 × 6-seconds maximal cycle sprints with 24 seconds of rest between sprints. However, in the LONG group, an active rest period of 7 minutes was inserted every three sprints to attenuate the power output decrement during the latter half of the sprints.”

“The training was performed 3 days per week for 3 weeks.”

“Maximal power output during the repeated sprint test was significantly increased only in the LONG group.”

“These results suggest that repeated sprint training with insertion of longer rest periods is an efficient strategy for improving maximal power output compared with the same training separated by short rest periods alone.”

A.Ikutomo, N.Kasai, K Goto
Impact of inserted long rest periods during repeated sprint exercise on performance adaptation
European Journal Of Sport Sciences – Volume 18 #1 – 2018 – page 47