Favorite “return to workout” workout

6-8 x 1km at threshold or sub-threshold

Tempo runs and light hill workouts, nothing crazy or intense.

Me too. I might through in a few 20 second hill repeats at the end.

Either hills - 3 x (400m, 300m, 200m - jog back recovery)

or some sort of tempo - 20' @ LT or 4 x 6' @ LT

I like broken instead of continuous work, so you've got an opportunity to rest & reset if your pace/effort recognition also needs some rebuilding.

If health is solid, a range of paces with reps shorter than what you'd typically do them. The previously mentioned 5-4-3-2-1 session is a great one, otherwise sets of 4 min @ Tempo with some shorter stuff at faster paces but in manageable doses with ample rest.

My three fav:

1. Mona fartlek

2. Progression run

3. 10-15x30 sec hill reps w/ jog recovery

1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1 double ladder fartlek, with equal recoveries. Dathan Ritzenhein special.

Or 3 x 1-mile at threshold pace, with 4-6 x 200m (200m jog) at the end.

I like the guy who said 2 x 10 min - pretty similar to the above.

It's some variation on this, for me. To throw speed, hills, fartlek, tempo into a long run was always nice, and usually an option at some degree regardless of fitness levels. Training got real when I could get on the track and rip off some quarters. I see others saying it was a mile repeat--for me anything 1k or shorter on a track meant I was going away from base training / building and getting into sharpening / tapering / race readiness phases.

I actually did a variation on this today. I'm coming back from a long layoff due to an Achilles injury. I've done a few pseudo-workouts but nothing real and have only now gotten my mileage up to 40 mpw. Anyway, I ran a flat mile on a route I know; recovered for about 5 minutes; then ran hard up and down the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, on the other side, did a series of sprints between stoplights and street corners. The idea was to tax a bunch of systems --- hill running, sprinting, threshold --- without getting discouraged by how slow I am. I'll keep doing things like this until I'm really ready to look at my watch.

Echoing several others on fartleks variations…

20-30 mins of 1on/1off is always a nice welcome back workout (or even 30/30).

54321, 12345, 123212321, etc are all solid as well (for the following weeks).

I've always avoided these workouts, as I believe they condition athletes to become mentally weak.

Races don't get mentally easier as they progress, they get harder.

Quarters at tempo pace

Isn’t is more the pace than the starting and stopping that stresses your legs? Like wouldn’t 20x1min at the same pace be less impact?

I like 6x200m with a 200m trudge of a walk. Gets your mechanics going, a tiny bit of lactate tolerance, and reminds the legs what fast feels like without being awfully strenuous. Then you feel okay either doing 8x200m or 8x400m slower but with less rest the next week.

Just see how many sub-4 miles I can drop in an hour

That hill sounds longer than my dick

For track/shorter distance: 12x200 at mile effort with 200 meter jog recovery

For longer distance 5-6x3min on/2 min off fartlek

4x800 at mile pace with 3min recovery. Welcome back 😈

back when he was coaching me we used to do the Mona. If you know you know. brought a proper burn to the lungs and legs but wasn't overly taxing