15x200m with equal-ish rest - what were we training and why did i find it so hard?

Anything with short recovery is aerobic.

15x200m with 30s revovery at mile pace is doable without problems, but at 800m pace impossible

Les is right though terminology is outdated. It's really a muscle power thing.

Here the term aerobic should be replaced with 'limited speed side capability relative to long range fatigue resistance.

VO2 Hero is wrong, though the terminology is mostly correct in spirit. Simplistic to describe a workout as a VO2max workout.

The sort of workout described above means different things to different runners.

A 3:30 800m runner and a 1:45 800m runner would have completely different experiences with it.

Was the recovery equal time or distance? If it's distance, then that is a classic Daniels R-pace workout.

Maybe that just isn't your mile pace. If it is, it shouldn't feel too bad. 200s are pretty short even off 30-40s of recovery.

I don't think anyone is doing 15x200m at close to 800m pace with equal recovery.

I ran 1:57.xx and there is no way I would have done 15x200m in sub-30 sec. with 30 sec. recovery. You'd be more than "creeping" into anaerobic territory.

Maybe it was 15x200m with 200m rest, not equal time? I'm 65 and still do those with about 45 sec for 200m (3000m pace) and 200m in 60-65 sec recovery.

Used to do this session at camps with the Swedish federation. It was called "technique intervals".....I didn´t even understand the purpose at the time, but later it came clear that you were supposed to train your gait efficiency at high lactic onset. Strange though we did them in November.....