15x400m at 3k pace

.......but when you now ask if 20 x 400m at 86 sec with 1 min rest is a part of what will take you to a sub 18 I give you my advice to run them a little faster 84-85 sec and rest easy walking back to 120 bpm if that holds you sub 90 sec to come back to 120 bpm . If not you can test with easy walking rest back to 125-130 bpm . Good luck!

thx for the advice. i will try.

but during the 20x400m at 86 sec with 1 min walking rest...i guess the pulse was higher the last repetitions than 120 (during the 1 min walking rest). maybe THAN ONLY 18.30 min is achivable

sounder wrote:

thx for the advice. i will try.

but during the 20x400m at 86 sec with 1 min walking rest...i guess the pulse was higher the last repetitions than 120 (during the 1 min walking rest). maybe THAN ONLY 18.30 min is achivable

Well.....this effect that your pulse is faster back to 1 min at the first reps compared with the last reps is a very common "mistake" that many coaches and runners overlook.The individual body needs more resttime after the last reps compared to the first.The same pace at every rep requires a little more rest the more reps you run . A fixed resttime does not allow for the need for longer rest as the effort gets higher and higher.

should I increse the rest maybe after the 12 rep

like 1-12 ...1 min rest and the last 8 reps maybe around 2 min rest to be sure

sounder wrote:

should I increse the rest maybe after the 12 rep

like 1-12 ...1 min rest and the last 8 reps maybe around 2 min rest to be sure

No, you should "listen" to your heart and rest back to 120 bpm after every rep, that way your body gets the perfect rest needed "automatically". If you don`t have a pulse monitor it`s easy to

rest easy walking back to 120 bpm by counting your pulse with your hand for 10 sec, when 20 beats in 10 sec you have 6 x 20 = 120 bpm .Good luck! :)

sounder wrote:

thx to all the replies.

I did 20x400m at 86 sec with 1min walking rest.

Would it be possible for me to run under 18min ..5k race?

The workout alone doesn’t say yes or no. I think someone could do that workout and be around 18:15. But you are probably in the 18:00 vicinity.

Just to jump in on this thread, it is incredible the variation in how runners do 10-15 x 400m at 3-5km pace. I recently did 12 x 400m + 1 x 200m in 76.8s average, the 200 being 36s. The rest was 200m jog, average 73.4s.

This was quite tough, but controlled. Every repetition was within 0.5s +/- of the average, and I could have done more if I had to.

Now I come from the 'slow/endurance' side; I can and have run 6 minute mile pace tempos of 10 - 12 miles quite comfortably, for example. I suspect I am close to 16 flat 5km shape, and thus I think this session was probably around 5km pace, perhaps a touch quicker.

But many others, maybe most others, in 16 flat shape can run 12 x 400m in way under 72s average, even with similar rest as in my case. My guess is that such runners are more anaerobic/'fast twitch' types, and, as long as they are aerobically quite fit, that 400m is short enough for such runners to use their speed to run way faster than 5km pace and still recover.

I'd imagine that those from the slow/endurance side of things like me would typically run with very consistent splits, as in my case. Anybody out there with similar experience?

The mechanical load of such a big workout at 3k pace is risky. I´d rather do shorter reps or lower the pace to approx 10k pace.