Hello all,
I have a race coming up in one week. The quantity of my training has been good (75-90 mpw in doubles) but I've neglected the intensity. The race is a cross country race. I'm wondering what I can do in the next 8 days to maximize my performance. I have a fair bit of experience with running and I am an injury resistant runner. I'm seeking to maximize my performance but also to do a bit of an experiment. This is all for fun.
The way I see it, I have two options:
1) I can run low volume workouts between 2-4 miles over the next three or four days and then take a steep taper dive into the race. For example, I could do 2 x 1 mile at race pace with a short recovery, then the next day say something like 6 x 400m at race pace with short recoveries, and then the day after that do 3 x 1 mile with a long break and then later in the day 15-20 minutes at tempo.
2) I could run one monster workout tomorrow and then a smaller workout 3-4 days out. The workout would be something like 4 x 1 mile at race pace, short rest then go into a set of 6 x 800m at race pace with short rest.
What are your thoughts on the best approach?
Thanks.