What workout pace for 4:20 mile shape?

shameless bump

Too much rest IMO - essentially a full recovery.

4:35ish for the 1600s. A little faster if feeling good, slower if sluggish on that particular day. Add 10 seconds for 4:30 guy

400s should be faster than RP (63ish) with this recovery give or take depending on how you feel. Adjust accordingly for 4:30.

None of those workouts is particularly constructive for building mile fitness, in my limited experience.

it's one workout.

thanks for the input, was close to my assumption, but slightly faster than i expected.

4:35s are you insane?

3x1600 has no real relevance to mile fitness. some 4:20 guys couldnt do that in 5:00s, yet some could do 4:40. nobody would do that in 4:35 though, what a joke

Ca$hclay wrote:

Too much rest IMO - essentially a full recovery.

4:35ish for the 1600s. A little faster if feeling good, slower if sluggish on that particular day. Add 10 seconds for 4:30 guy

400s should be faster than RP (63ish) with this recovery give or take depending on how you feel. Adjust accordingly for 4:30.

Ignore this guy. Unless the 4:20 runner happens to also be a 64 minute half marathoner or something. Anyway, it's impossible to say what pace is right for the 1600s without knowing more about the athlete.

bigtool05 wrote:

Ca$hclay wrote:

Too much rest IMO - essentially a full recovery.

4:35ish for the 1600s. A little faster if feeling good, slower if sluggish on that particular day. Add 10 seconds for 4:30 guy

400s should be faster than RP (63ish) with this recovery give or take depending on how you feel. Adjust accordingly for 4:30.

Ignore this guy. Unless the 4:20 runner happens to also be a 64 minute half marathoner or something. Anyway, it's impossible to say what pace is right for the 1600s without knowing more about the athlete.

Say the athlete ran 60-70 mpw for 2-3 months of base, with tempos and strides weekly, and has been doing 3 weeks of workouts like this one, and has run 4:20 in his second race. Or 4:30. This is hypothetical but I can use it for other reasons.

Give him a 5:40 5k pr last XC season

15:40*

reed wrote:

4:35s are you insane?

3x1600 has no real relevance to mile fitness. some 4:20 guys couldnt do that in 5:00s, yet some could do 4:40. nobody would do that in 4:35 though, what a joke

Yeah - 3x1600 in 4:35 (even with 4 min rest) is up there. As a 29:20/4:12 guy in college I'd of had a hard time with that.

That would be a good 5k tune up workout though.

reed wrote:

4:35s are you insane?

3x1600 has no real relevance to mile fitness. some 4:20 guys couldnt do that in 5:00s, yet some could do 4:40. nobody would do that in 4:35 though, what a joke

Yeah, 4:35 is not possible.

To me this workout looks like the miles should be done around 5k pace and then you cap it off with some mile pace 400s to turn the legs over a bit quicker.

crete wrote:

reed wrote:

4:35s are you insane?

3x1600 has no real relevance to mile fitness. some 4:20 guys couldnt do that in 5:00s, yet some could do 4:40. nobody would do that in 4:35 though, what a joke

Yeah, 4:35 is not possible.

To me this workout looks like the miles should be done around 5k pace and then you cap it off with some mile pace 400s to turn the legs over a bit quicker.

That's actually exactly how we ran this workout today. The initial goal was 4x1600m then 4x400m, but we were short on time and cut out the last mile to progress to the mile paced stuff. We ran slightly faster than mile pace either because of the last 1600 being cut off, or just how teenage runners are. So, what I've gathered is that there is too much variation in aerobic fitness of 4:20 milers to predict how they would do in a 5k workout such as this?

My assumption was around 4:45-50 without wind, and the 400s just shy of 60 unless they just felt good. I'm not sure why I agreed with the 4:35, it didn't sound likely but I suppose I felt obliged to be polite to the first response.

if you are running 3 x 1600 @ 435 you are going to race closer to 410-412

Ca$hclay wrote:

Too much rest IMO - essentially a full recovery.

4:35ish for the 1600s. A little faster if feeling good, slower if sluggish on that particular day. Add 10 seconds for 4:30 guy

400s should be faster than RP (63ish) with this recovery give or take depending on how you feel. Adjust accordingly for 4:30.

if you are running 3 x 1600 @ 435 you are going to race closer to 410-412

Like a week or so out from goal 4:20 race:

6X400 in 60-62 with 3 minutes recovery, more if needed.

If you are a speed-oriented athlete and can do this you can definitely go sub 4:20. If you're more endurance type you can probably run closer to 4:15.

OTOH prediction workouts are for chumps