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Alex V.
Alex V. Sendmail

Favorite Interval workouts - Describe your session, reps, rest, and what race its for

posted about 2 years ago | Report

I loved speed workouts(when i had speed). Our coach had us do a Downwards Ladder once we were late in the season. His expectation was to blast each distance and give maximum effort once we got to the end. Here's how it went for 5000m runners:

*200m walk between each set
1 X 1 mile at 10k race pace
1 X 1200m at 5k race pace
1 X 800m at 2 mile race pace
1 X 400m at 1 mile race pace
1 X 200m at "beat your partner" pace

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  • Jimmy J.
    Jimmy J. Sendmail

    I've not done anything FAST since November 2004. But I still remember my fastest interval workout on the ole Creeper Trail in Abingdon Virginia where I now live.

    It was November 17th just 2-days after our sons 10th Birthday. He was in school, and my wife had to be somewhere so I decided to run my favorite workout which has always been (Mile-Repeats). I've always ran a 2:30 - 3.00 rest jog in between intervals.

    I ran 1.5 miles out and back to the 1-mile marker on the trail for an easy 2-mile warm up. I then did 8-Mile Repeats with a 2.30 rest run in between each one that day.
    My Mile Repeats.+
    1) 6.11
    2) 6.11
    3) 6.10
    4) 6.11
    5) 6.10
    6) 5.38
    7) 5.55
    8) 6.01

    I did another easy 2-miles for my cool down, and ended up with 12-miles total. I didn't count the 2.30 recovery in my overall mileage.

    I will never forget this as long as I live. I ran for a long time with friends. But alone this is still my fastest workout ever. I was training for the 2005 Virginia Creeper Marathon. But because I wasn't feeling good the day of the race which was sometime in March 2005. I can't remember the exact date - I had a very big DNF = Did Not Finish. I dropped out at 20-miles. Ouch!

    Great Workout, Alex. God Bless You & Your-Family is My Prayer.+

    posted about 2 years ago | edited about 2 years ago

  • Alex V.
    Alex V. Sendmail

    Mile repeats, huh? And 8 of of 'em too. I give you props, man. I dreaded the days I had to do those. Too bad you didn't get to finish your marathon. I'm sure you'd have been looking at the lower end of 3 hours with a workout like that!

    posted about 2 years ago

  • Jimmy J.
    Jimmy J. Sendmail
    in reply to what Alex V. said:Mile repeats, huh? And 8 of of 'em too. I give you props, man. I dreaded the days I had to do those. Too bad you didn't get to finish your marathon. I'm sure you'd have been looking at the lower end of 3 hours with a workout like that!

    Yep. Mile repeats, but I don't know what will happen in 2010. Really my only goal for now is to run every day of 2010. I have a close friend, (George Brown) that will be logging 29-years sometime this month without a day off. I don't want to go that far, but I would like to see if I can make it a year.

    With that I would like to run a few races, and for now all I'm trying to do is get back in some kind of shape. I live in Virginia, and today it was very cold and snowy again. Certainly not the best time to start a streak, haha. But I will run. For a couple of months I will only run what I feel, and as I get in better shape figure out exactly what I want to do next. A Half-Marathon in June, and maybe a Full Marathon in the fall is in my mind, but I will see how I feel when that time comes around.

    I work day-shift now every other weekend, and almost every local race falls on my weekend to work. So I will have to plan my races or faster workoputs accordingly. Who knows, but I do know I want to give it a go one more time. I will be 47 on January 17th.

    But even before Running I want God to be first in my life again. My first streak of 2 is to spend some quality time with God every day of 2010, and of course run every day of 2010. Without God I know I could not do it. Take Care, and have a great evening. God Bless.+

    PS Alex. I Love to talk running, etc. almost as much as I like to run. My wife tells me if I trained as much as I talked about it I just couldn't be beat at the local races, lol. I also am going to start working on a blog. http://dadsmarathoncomeback.blogspot.com I have it started, and hopefully I will get it up to date, and start blogging every day after that. Sorry so long, but like I said I love to talk. feel free to respond, and tell me more about your training, family, etc. If you want to. Again God Bless.+

    posted about 2 years ago

  • Stephen H.
    Stephen H. Sendmail

    i like 400 meter repeats, their hard but not so hard that the become something that i dread doing.

    posted about 2 years ago | edited about 2 years ago

  • Stephen H.
    Stephen H. Sendmail

    sorry double post

    posted about 2 years ago | edited about 2 years ago

  • Bill K.
    Bill K. Sendmail

    6x800 meters for my shorter races. 3x1 mile or 2x2 mile as I get up past 10K.

    It's a great workout when my splits don't stray too much. I've gotten better at that.

    A workout I've done in the past year that turns a "regular run" day into a quality session is the progression run, usually 10 miles. I try to drop a little time each mile. If I do, it's a good sign of my fitness. The first mile is pretty much a jogging warmup (8:15-ish), then I'll easily drop time the next two miles before having to focus on shaving a few seconds each mile. It really helped me learn to control my pace in my first marathon, which I ran in negative splits.

    posted about 2 years ago

  • Alex V.
    Alex V. Sendmail

    Yeah man, I remember doing something like a progression run when we did our "out and back" courses. I'd always try to come home faster than I went out.

    My old coach reminded me of a really good one that we would do while we were still building base for the upcoming cross country season. On certain days during our normal runs 50 to 60 min, he'd have us drop the pace for 5 min intervals. So 5 min hard, 5 min normal pace, and repeat. We'd do 20 min worth of hard running. Man it was the perfect set up for the usual repeat intervals like the ones I'm seeing above. I'm going to incorporate that back into my training to prepare for intervals in a couple of weeks.

    I like seeing the workouts. I hope more folks keep posting!

    posted about 2 years ago

  • Bill K.
    Bill K. Sendmail

    I like that idea. I'm always looking for ways to add some quality to my everyday runs.

    posted about 2 years ago

  • Caleb K.PRO
    Caleb K. Sendmail

    Lately I have been a fan of the gut wrenching 1000 meter interval with 200 meter recoveries. The recovery is just enough time to realize that this hurts and then you start again. Tough workout but worth it.

    posted about 2 years ago

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