How far out from mile race do I run simulator WORKOUT??

i usually do about 8-9 days

2 weeks out

M- 4 x 1000m cruise intervals, 4 x 200m @ 800m pace

Tu- easy 35-40 mins, strides

W- race simulator/last hard workout

Th- easy 45-50 mins

F- pre-meet

Sat- under-distance race or TT (800m or 1k)

Sun- easy 55-60 mins, strides

M- off

Tu- 2 x 800 @ 3k pace, 2 x 400 @ mile pace, 2 x 200 @ 800 pace (all w/ 400 jogging recovery)

W- easy 30-35 mins

Th- off

F- pre-meet

Sat- goal race

Sun- either a celebratory end-of-season run or a celebratory end-of-season day to sleep in

Thanks! What does “pre-meet” entail?

Isn't the final Tuesday workout as hard as the race simulator workout?

Anyone else have a final 2 week example? Thanks

I am also no expert,, but I'd say no, that suggested final Tue isn't as hard as the race simulator. It's just two 400s at your mile pace, preceded by two 800s at slower than mile pace, and finished up with two 200s (NOT at full sprint) faster than mile pace.

[ It is important to pay attention to prescribed pace. The above workout would be very hard if attempted at faster paces. But then it would be an entirely different workout. ]

A race simulator would be something like 10 x 400 at mile pace, with 200m jog, maybe with last 2-3 reps a second or two faster. This is a significantly tougher session.

An alternative final Tue might look like:

8 x 300m at mile pace, 3 min standing rest. Basically long strides to "lock in" your pace. Then -

4 x 150 long accelerations (DO NOT HAMMER) with 3-5 min full recovery. Start smooth & easy around the curve at mile pace and then gently accelerating down the straight, hitting 400 pace around 50m and finishing the last 20m at 200m speed. These are light speedwork to prepare for faster segments of the race.

Just some ideas, hope they help.

Sub-8 mile nailed it. You could make the workout Tuesday of race week hard, but if you run the prescribed paces, it’s more of a tune-up effort—it’ll keep you sharp but not take enough out of you that it’ll impact your race Saturday.

Pre-meet is whatever you like to do the day before a race that leaves you feeling primed (fresh, but not overreacted and stale) for the next day. For a lot of milers it might be something like 20 minutes easy finished off with 200, 100, 100 at or just under goal pace (with full recovery). But you’ve gotta try some different things and find out what works for you.

Yeah, I thought the same, potentially too hard Tuesday (or not), even if volume is low, not sure 2x800 at 3k is safe. Could be just a workout with easier reps, and ending in some race pace 200s is enough to trigger. For the last week it is about recovering or getting really fresh, but at the same time trigger the right tension in the legs. I did not run mile, but longer, but I often failed due to too little speed the last 2 days. This is individual, but I believe in doing something harder 3-4 days out, but not kill yourself. this triggers tension and springiness. Then recovery (and the tension goes down day by day) and the day before touch on speed to build tension back, but not fatigue at all. Could be just as simple as 5x200 at mile pace with 4min jog between. Needs to be tested, I am making up. I just had a workout Tuesday, just easy training Wed/Thu, then 30min jog on Friday with 5 strides/sprints, and then it worked out better. I also found out later that just doing some explosive squat jumps with medium weights the day before ALWAYS gave springy legs and that is why I believe in adjusting tension with the right training is the most important, except enough recovery and freshness.

I think 3 hard efforts (including a race/time trial) the week before might be a bit much. I would just do the race simulator and time trial or the first two workouts -- probably the first two workouts.

M- easy, T- race simulator (8-10 x 400m @ mile), W- easy, T- easy, F- 4 x 1k @ T + 4-8 x 200m (more reps = mile pace, less = 800), S- easy or long, S- easy or long (long down to an hour, if you've been more like 80-90 minutes throughout the cycle). Race week looks good -- don't take an off day if you don't usually do that. Keep to the paces on the Tuesday workout. If you run the 800s @ mile pace, your race is not gonna go as well as it should. Even 5k pace versus 3k pace is fine. It's just a sharpening session.

I wouldn't do it any closer than 4 hrs before your race.

That should give you enough time to recover while 'priming' your system. This will give you a nice performance boost. Many sprinters and jumpers do this with light power clean reps and 60 meter fly efforts.

You joke, but I actually think 90 seconds or so at threshold—>10k pace about 15-20 minutes before a race of anywhere from about 1 mile to 12k is is a good idea (10 mins easy, threshold, 5 more mins easy, 2-3 x 100m strides).

Also, if you think the early race week workout will take it out of you, make it easier, for sure. Those sort of paces, volume, and recovery are what would work for me (less than two miles total, long recovery, working down to below race pace), but the goal is to feel fresh. If you’ll still feel that in your legs on race day, drop one of the 800s and/or 400s.

As for the week before race week, I really don’t think it includes too much quality for most reasonably well trained open runners (a masters runner or runner who struggles to recover may want to adjust). Monday is a light workout, Wednesday is the focus of the week, and while Saturday is a race while a race, at 800 or 1,000m isn’t an effort that should stick with you. But again, YMMV. Monday you could just do 8-10 minutes straight at tempo effort, or one tempo mile, or 2-3 x 1k cruise intervals before the faster stuff.

For what it’s worth, I think a lot of the advice on here comes from post-collegiate runners focused on longer distances. Mine is geared a little bit more at the younger middle distance runner. You’ve gotta decide what works for you (and experiment with some different options to find out).