V wrote:
If you're getting up to an hour on a run then that's plenty for a 15 year old. When you begin averaging an hour a day then doubles begin to make more sense. Since you likely won't double during the year (school and homework don't make that easy) then I'd probably hold off.
I don't do VO2max work anymore. There's a lot of research out there on VO2max and I'm sure people smarter than me have figured out how to use that magical number effectively, but I do a lot more tempo work now and am much happier with the results. We still have workouts with 3k pace (roughly vVO2max) but the goal with VO2max in mind. CV isn't something I use much, but I'd be willing to bet that it's also a better move in most situations than "VO2max workouts."
Tinman also prescribes VO2MAX work very sparingly. There are some things science has proven:
VO2MAX workouts improve for 5-6 weeks, then no further improvements are made.
For 3k, 5k and 10k races, training at 95% VO2MAX (~5k pace for decent runners) was just as effective as training at 100% VO2MAX.
Only for the 1500, training at 100% VO2MAX was very important to to improve (running 95% wasn't enough for that target group).
Now the thing is, that a race, like a 3k, 5k, or 10k (during the last 2-3k's) already is a great VO2MAX stimulus. So if someone is racing frequently, he is getting most if not all of the VO2MAX benefits.
Tinman uses VO2MAX in periods without races, roughly once every 3 weeks to keep up the stimulus. Also, he prefers to use shorter rest, like 300s/400s/600s with short rest or 1 min on, 30s off on grass. Most is usually 6x800 at VO2MAX, 400m rest. That's a very hard workout, equivalent to a 5k race, and he only prescribes this to his elite runners.
A session like 6x1k @VO2MAX (3k pace) might be an appropriate stimulus for an elite 13:00 runner, but it fries the average 14:30-17:30 runner, even if the pace gets adjusted. I felt like these workouts had no benefits for me (as 16-17 min 5k runner), and required substantial recovery afterwards. With threshold/CV I'm making a lot more progress now, VO2MAX is still there, but very, very small amounts, just the icing on the cake.