Hardest workout you have done

About the 600s, at mile pace these just really really hurt. Something like 10x400 is perfectly doable but when it comes to even just like 4x600 my eyes are bugging out of my head. 6x400 is unimaginable. This is prob evidence of my aerobic weakness but props to you workout heroes out there.

3 mile tempo, 4x 600 @ ~3k pace, 4x 200 @ 800 pace (starting 1-2 slower but working down). This workout probably didn't need to be so hard but I took the tempo out hard and ran maybe 20 seconds per mile slower than the 5k race I'd done the week before. Don't have the rest listed in my old training log but it was not enough to save me from a true whooping in this one.

6k, 5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, 1k with 1k float in between. 6k at 10 seconds slower than MP, 5k 5 seconds slower, 4k MP and cutting down by 5 seconds faster than MP thereafter. Just over 16 mi total. 1k float is about 20-30 seconds slower than MP and not super easy. Really helped me with the last 6 mi in the marathon and got two PRs with this workout at my peak mileage.

My post from an hour ago should say "6x600" is imaginable

I had a workout in high school that was really brutal but idk if I just wasn't in good enough shape or if I was too aggressive with my pacing but it was brutal.

The goal was to do 3 sets each adding up to 800 and at goal 800 pace with a minute between reps in each set and 3 minutes between sets

Set 1: 600-200

Set 2: 400-400

Set 3: 300-200-200

I was in ~2:08 800 shape at the time and after hitting 1:34 on the first 600 my legs felt horrible and I blew up on the 400s (I came back a bit the last set)

We had a big steep hill leading up to our high school. Every week pre-season alternating weeks during the season after our initial warm-up and stretch the coach would have all the runners do hill sprints. The hill was about 200M and we'd sprint up as fast as possible then walk down and sprint up again for 30 minutes, take a five minute hydration break and then did another 30 minutes. The only stoppage was the five minute break or if you threw up. Generally speaking the coach would berate us for not trying hard enough if less than half the team threw up.

2 miles in 9:40 + 4x600 in 95 + 4x300 in 43-44

Not specifically a "workout", but when I was in high school, my team would do our long runs on a long hilly dirt road. We would run 6 miles or so up it, (2300ish feet of elevation gain) and then head down.

If you could average sub 8's on the way up, you were a legit runner. (Strava GAP converts 8:00 on that grade to around 5:40 pace)

On the way down, we would get reckless and usually run 6:10-6:20, with several sub 6's.

6 x 1000 at 3K PR pace with 400 jog rest.

1x5k all out

Edit - was about 7 seconds per 1K rep UNDER 3000-meter PB pace.

10x400 at true mile pace off 30s rest is not possible.

Upon thinking about it more, this is probably my hardest workout on paper but I was in great shape to run this and ran well during it. My hardest workout efforts have usually been ones where I underestimate how hard it will be or jump into something early in training. Last fall I actually did a set of 100, 200, 300, 400 x 2 up hill with jog back recoveries and it was death. First time doing the workout on that particular hill and it just got steeper the longer the reps got, meaning the 300 and 400s were hell. I was also just doing it as a maintenance workout so I was generous with recovery but at the end, it didn't matter. Curious if others have had their hardest workouts be something that doesn't seem bad but just had a day from hell.

6x800 @ Steeple pace (2:24), half over hurdles (1:30 rest)

4x400 @ mile pace (58-60), 2:00 rest

Does your coach struggle with basic math? 70s laps equal a 4:40 mile x2 is 9:20 for 2 miles

A great workout when done at proper paces!

25 x 1:00 at faster than 5K effort, 1:00 marathon pace (50 minutes of hell)

OR

1 hour run with 30 minutes at Marathon Pace followed by 30 minutes at Threshold, no stopping.

Probably 5xMile 60 sec rest or 20x400 (don’t remember the rest)

50 hours of hiking with only 10 minutes breakes every hour. Even when I had to go to the "bathroom" or eat. I can't tell how much weight i had in my rucksack.