Anyone else just enjoy doing simple no fuss workouts?

KISS

keep it simple stupid

I do. Just crank out the hard work. Too much fancy nonsense these days of double threshold with step downs starting at marathon pace down to 85% of 5k pace but not to elevate ones heart rate over 92% of max effort.

agree. maybe there's a place for that other stuff in a limited capacity. but the classics are the bread and butter.

Progression runs (based on effort)

Fartleks

Hill repeats

Chase cars

Bread and butter:

5 x 1000m VO2 max

14 x 200m at goal 800m pace (favorite)

3-5 mile tempo

4x 400m goal 800

I like 10x1k threshold, nothing after, nothing before. Simple and isolates one area.

Yes. You could mix just these five workouts, plus easy runs, long runs, and strides, and get over 95% of the way to your peak potential for everything from the mile to hilly cross country to a road half marathon.

1) 30-40 minutes at 5k effort + 40-45s/mile

2) 4-6 x mile at 5k effort +25-30s/mile w/ 60s recovery

3) 5-8 x 1k at 5k effort w/ 2:30 recovery

4) 8-10 x 400 at mile effort w/ 60s recovery

5) 6-8 x 2-3 minutes on a steady uphill hard but controlled (similar to 10k effort) with easy jogdown recovery

Hell, after writing that out, you could probably do it with any four of them (although leaving out #4 would affect your mile, and leaving out #1 would affect your half marathon), and get pretty close to that with just the "odds." Coaches have a place in keeping you accountable and protecting you from your own worst instincts, but the workouts aren't magic.

I didn't know a thing about training in high school, but blundered onto the following my senior year and did okay:

20-25m tempos at maybe 85%

6x400 @62-64 with minute rest

Lots of 5 mile runs at 75-80% with three long hills included (60-100 seconds up)

The remainder easy runs, maybe an hour if I felt like it.

Yes. As a coach at a hs I cannot do random distance workouts. It’s confusing for the kids. We do the basics you mentioned and I like 8-10 x 300 or 200’s. Same for myself as a runner. It’s mindless and never fails. It’s stressful to even think about it when your doing the workout

I like the mix of doing 4x200 at 1500mish pace after a tempo run because I am not normally touching that pace else where most weeks.

But a lot of them just seem like randomness for the sake of making stuff different. I am not sure alternating 1200s at 10k pace with 400s at 3k pace is as effective as just more volume at 10k pace.

I do wonder how effect things like the 1600-2k tempo before the main workout work that is hot right now is. Is that enough volume for a training effect? Is it just a good warmup?

I was once talking with Peter Snell about the value of those complicated sorts of workouts. His reply was pretty much what you wrote, "Their value is that allow coaches to justify their own existences."

When you read about Kenyan workouts it seems that they keep it simple- 25 x hills, jog down,

multiple 400's or k's. Nothing complicated, just run.

The Norwegian approach on singles thread is basically the ultimate no fuss entire system. It can be totally kept in it's simplest form and you will get 95% of your ability. Yes, the last 5% of digging in the weeds in that thread is complex. But I would say for literally anyone who doesn't like anything fancy for training and likes repetition, I've not seen anything better in 25 years in the sport.

Are you the guy posting this in every thread related to coaching or does Peter Snell talk to a lot of people and says the same thing to all of them?

If a workout like 600 x 5 + 200 x 4 is complicated to you then I guess it's good that you're a runner cause you wouldn't be able to do much else with a brain like that.

My interpretation of complicated is some of these workouts that you see runners (at all levels) doing that seem to be all over the place.

As far a local runners- there is a "coach" in my area who all these suckers pay $60 a month to who writes workouts that would make your brain spin.

The runner has no clue what the objective is and would be better served by running 3 sets of 4 x 400 or something like that.

I've seen some Strava workouts from Pros that make me wonder why the coach made them so complicated. I think Peter Snell's answer is the correct one.

yes, indeed, especially as I get older and busy with life things. days of substance below and fill the rest in with easy and recovery running. Periodization is done by simply increasing the intensity/distance before peak races.

Tu: 5K-8K of interval work around 10K down to 5K pace (or hill repeats)

Fri: 5K-10K tempo

Sunday: Long run, with progression or something like 3x3 miles marathon pace.

I post this when it seems relevant. Being dead and all really inhibits Peter's ability to talk to people. If you sometime see multiple posts from someone repeating Lydiard's "We all go to the track, I run 440s, you run 220s, and the other guy runs miles. We all get a big oxygen debt and we all get fitter. It's a lot of eyewash," that is also very likely to be me.

You can’t conceptualize doing 5x600 and then some 200s quicker after?
that’s a pretty simple workout to me, hehe

Jokes aside, simple pace or effort based intervals that are easy to understand and repeatable are the easiest way to pr

what did Frank shorter say, if I wrote a book on training it would be 2 pages long

Honestly, in this thread you mentioned a closed community gets upset if someone suggests to run at 5k pace or faster regularly. Horrible place.

I like this thread here more, simple and purposeful workouts, a simple week.

My favorites: long warm up, 5-6 x 3mins hard/90sec rest, long cool down. Or: 10+ x 1min hard/1min easy.