Why do some people take such long recoveries in their speed workouts?

It depends how fast you're doing the reps, your fitness level, and the purpose of the workout. Try running 5+ 400m repeats at 800 pace with under 3 minutes rest and tell me how that goes.

If you run the 800m or above, there's a limited number race efforts that your legs and CV system can possibly handle in a year. Maybe 15-20 tops. A workout like 6 x 200m w/ 0:30 rest is essentially a race effort for the 800m. If you did that workout 2x per week you would find yourself getting slower after a month.

There are lots of variable involved here.

One of those variables is what the purpose of the workout is.

As a guy who rarely races anything under 5k, the purpose of my doing 400s is to improve running economy by running relatively fast. Since my goal is to improve running economy, feeling recovered enough such that I maintain good form for each rep is not only important, but it is the entire point of the workout for me. So I take enough time such that I feel comfortable that my form for the next rep will not be impacted by fatigue. That usually means somewhere between 2 and 3 minutes. For other runners who race other distances, they may be looking to get something else out of a 400m reps workout, so it may be important for them to take less rest.

As to mile repeats, I tend to take 3:30 to 4:00 of rest. My goal for mile repeats is to get in as much work at my vo2max pace as is possible without beating my body up too much. Miles at 5k pace are hard, and they get your hear rate up pretty quickly (probably takes about 2-3 minutes for your heart rate to get to the max range at 5k pace early in the interval session) and keep it up after you finish your intervals pretty good too. Also, being in my mid 40s, my heart rate tends to jump back up pretty quickly on subsequent intervals, so while the rest may seem long to you, there is very little downside for me since I am getting back into the right zone pretty quickly as the workout progresses.

With vo2max intervals, getting back into the right range quickly can be facilitated by using active rest during the recovery periods. This helps maintain a relatively elevated heart rate, meaning that you will get back up to the desired range more quickly than if you took passive rest.

On cruise intervals at tempo pace, however, I would take short periods of passive rest. Again, the purpose of the workout is the driver here. The purpose of this workout for me is to allow my body to adapt to the buildup of the byproducts associated with lactic acid. Since lactic acid and related byproducts clear relatively quickly, and since even light jogging facilitates their prompt clearance, I avoid jogging and keep the rest short so as to maintain as high a level of byproducts as possible.

So, basically, duration and nature of rest really depends on what you are trying to get out of a workout and what your personal circumstances are.

Thank you for the responses. I never really gave it much thought outside of the 5000,3200,and1600. Guess it would make sense to the type of goal you're working towards.

jamin wrote:

If you run the 800m or above, there's a limited number race efforts that your legs and CV system can possibly handle in a year. Maybe 15-20 tops. A workout like 6 x 200m w/ 0:30 rest is essentially a race effort for the 800m. If you did that workout 2x per week you would find yourself getting slower after a month.

Very true. I learned this the hard way. Felt terrible for 6 months.

Workout king? wrote:

Is a 3 min recovery for 400m repeats ideal? Or 5 min recovery between mile repeats? Doesn't this kind of negate the entire vo2max workout and make it a hard tempo with recovery instead? When is it appropriate to do a standing recovery vs a jog recovery?

Depends what pace the 400s are! If mile pace that's way too long. For example I've done 3(4x400) @ mile pace with 45 sec rest in between reps & 2 between sets. Tougher than it sounds! Standing recovery for quality sessions that are FAST. Then jog recovery in short rest reps. I've done 3(10x200) with 200m jog recovery/2 between sets. It's all about the pace & rest.

Rudisha800 wrote:

Workout king? wrote:

Is a 3 min recovery for 400m repeats ideal? Or 5 min recovery between mile repeats? Doesn't this kind of negate the entire vo2max workout and make it a hard tempo with recovery instead? When is it appropriate to do a standing recovery vs a jog recovery?

Depends what pace the 400s are! If mile pace that's way too long. For example I've done 3(4x400) @ mile pace with 45 sec rest in between reps & 2 between sets. Tougher than it sounds! Standing recovery for quality sessions that are FAST. Then jog recovery in short rest reps. I've done 3(10x200) with 200m jog recovery/2 between sets. It's all about the pace & rest.

No, 3x(4x400) with 45s rest and 2 minutes between sets at mile pace doesn't sound tough.

It sounds fcking impossible. No way you did that at mile pace. More like 3k/5k pace.

Not really wrote:

Rudisha800 wrote:

Depends what pace the 400s are! If mile pace that's way too long. For example I've done 3(4x400) @ mile pace with 45 sec rest in between reps & 2 between sets. Tougher than it sounds! Standing recovery for quality sessions that are FAST. Then jog recovery in short rest reps. I've done 3(10x200) with 200m jog recovery/2 between sets. It's all about the pace & rest.

No, 3x(4x400) with 45s rest and 2 minutes between sets at mile pace doesn't sound tough.

It sounds fcking impossible. No way you did that at mile pace. More like 3k/5k pace.

Maybe he's ready for a big PR then?

If you are going for maximal efforts on each, then the longer recovery allows your energy systems (especially the creatine phosphate system) to "recharge" itself. That takes something on the order of 5 minutes, and that also gives time to restore muscle ATP sufficiently.

So it depends on the goal of the workout. If you want to make it more aerobic, then shorter the recoveries.

I generally say jog a little after finishing, but if it is a max effort I would say rest as much as you can without feeling like crap at the start of the next one. A little jogging in the 2 minutes after can speed up the buffering of the acidity.

Or

If you want to run each rep faster, then rest longer.

The answer relies almost purely on the purpose of the workout. Special endurance types 1 and 2, speed endurance, and raw speed (creatine phosphate/ATP) all require lots of rest - especially special endurance (e.g. 3*250 with 8-15min rest between each). Longer rest is important consider for 800 meter runners and below.

Okay I was bluffing lol the session was hard af the 3/4 rep was a grind! Also lifted days prior