Hardest workout you have done

There are different levels of 'hard':

3 x 1600 in 4:43-4:45 with 1 mile jog between the week of state back in '96. At state went through 1600 in....4:45, finished 9:32 so didn't die too bad.

25 x 400m in :73-76? in August. 3:00 jog between reps. 6:00 jog between sets of 4. It was a long day.

24 mi run with 4 x 3mi at marathon effort in the middle w/5-10min slow jog between. . I think it was 6mi warmup, workout, then whatever cooldown. I peed red after that one.

Alan

Once in HS we did 6 x 500 at goal 1500m pace with 5 minutes rest followed by 5 x 200 all out with 2 minutes rest. It was the most tired I've ever felt in a workout. My legs felt like solid lactic acid.

Another time, we ran 5 x 600m at goal 1500m pace with 5 minutes rest followed by 5 x 200 all out with 2 minutes rest. This time I just felt amazing and it felt like one of the easiest workouts of my life because I just had an insanely good day. 2 weeks later at our conference meet, I ran my worst 1500m race of the season. I pretty much left my whole season in that workout because I felt great and decided to push the pace. Valuable lesson learned.

300 @ :45, 1 minute rest, 600 @ 1:30, :30 rest, 300 @ :45

Jog 2 laps

300 @ :41-42, 1 minute rest, 600 (800 pace to flat out), :30 rest, 300 flat out

Even the cheapest craft beer is better than that piss water.

16:40 5k in xc, trying to break 10 this year in the 3200

7 x 5:00 @ 5K pace...recovery was probably around a 2:00-2:30 jog. Think I completed 5 reps before shortening the last two a bit. A rough track workout from a marathon training plan.

*20x400 (30-40 seconds rests) @ 74

4 min rest

*1600 @ 4:54.

On my list of nonsense workouts (i. e. unnecessary hard workouts that don't fit to the individual person) are two. Both added nothing than pain and ruined my final build up in two seasons. My fault.

a) 12 x 200m/1 min rest at or slightly faster than 800m race pace (two sets with good recovery and less volume are better for me)

b) 4 x 400m/4 min rest at 800m race pace (at least 5 min rest is necessary for me)

Run to work 10km

Work all day as a garden labourer.

15km to track.

10km track race (32:00 as tempo run)

15km home.

York used to run, every Monday, 25 quarters with 1-minute intervals. That was after a 3-mile warm-up.

Sub 14 in trainers

My 2 most intense (stupidest) workouts were 20 miles in the morning and 10 miles in the evening 1 week before my first marathon (hey, because Frank Shorter did it, so why don't I?) Yes, it did affect my race.

The other was 6 sets of 5x400/200 with 400 between sets. The sets of 400s alternated between 70ish and 75ish. When that was done, I had a 45 minute tempo. All told, the day was well over 20 miles and my legs didn't feel good for a long time after that.

I see workouts like that not as a badge of courage, but as a stupid use of energy. In my old(er) age, I now believe workouts should not be so hard that you cannot continue with normal training after. Live and learn.

40x400 starting very slow but working down every couple reps to 59 for the last one. This was during my senior outdoor season. After the workout i don't think i could move for 20 minutes. By far the hardest session I've ever done. Did this workout in highschool in the 80s with 3 of my teammates, as milers. Not 100% sure why. Wish we knew more about training back then. Also made up our own (usually awful) fartleks. Ran long runs a bit too fast and way too far. Still some of the best memories i have from HS were from track and XC.

5x2k alternating 5k pace and 10k pace w/ last 400m at 3k pace. Honestly too hard. I hadn't broken 15 yet in the 5k and all 5 2ks were under 6. Had to go to class after and I was a complete zombie.

If you literally mean the hardest, then the first time doing a hill workout of 200/300/400, walk back recovery. Coach wouldn't even tell you how many sets you have, just supposed to keep going until he told me to stop, must have done like 4 sets. The 200 reps were all pretty manageable, but after the first set, all the 300s and 400s were all-out, gritting my teeth, blacking out by the end. Steep f*cking hill too AND it was cold, I can remember tasting blood and barely able to walk after. This was the first hard workout before indoor that season and I think set me up to run some really fast workouts afterwards.

However, the most impressive workout I think I've done was 4 x 1k, but the goal was first 800 @ 2:20 and finishing with a 29-second 200. All the reps were in 2:50-2:53.