Thursday is idiotic. Why not something like longer tempo volume (10k+) Tuesday, alternating workout Friday between marathon and 10k, and a harder long run on sunday?
Thursday is idiotic. Why not something like longer tempo volume (10k+) Tuesday, alternating workout Friday between marathon and 10k, and a harder long run on sunday?
Because he's not training for a marathon.
Unless you're training for a marathon, there's absolutely no need for a fast long run. It's already the biggest volume day, you don't need to add intensity to that, given that it's so far removed - in terms of specificity - from the demands of your events. You'll get some benefit, but that will be counteracted by the delayed recovery for other workouts that you should be prioritising.
OP, if you're really keen on focussing in on improving your threshold, that looks like a good plan. Just make sure that you keep it very relaxed on those longer threshold days (maybe even go for Sub-T on most of them). And I probably wouldn't go any faster than mile pace in the 200s, or else you'll likely struggle to recover for Saturday's workout.
You should probably also try to build up your easy mileage, so that you're doing at least 70% of your overall running as easy.
Thanks for the reply. Thought behind the 200s was to still keep it at threshold effort, but also get the legs moving once a week, probably aiming for 2 mile pace on the 200s. Also thinking about alternating the 200s with hills for a more traditional Jakob style week. Rest of mileage is gonna be easy and aim for 65-70 miles a week
I saw you those workouts are the same as the ones that Matthew Hansen did this week so I’ll give some advice. Matthew does double threshold so that 1600, 10x200, 1600 is good for him since he did a threshold that morning but not enough for you since you’re only doing single threshold sessions. Here’s my two cents on a training schedule for you
M: Easy w/ Strides
T: 8x1k starting at 15k pace working down to 10k-8k pace. All off 60-90 seconds
W: Easy w/Strides
T: 20x400 starting at 10-8k pace working down to 3k pace. Ones at 10-8k pace off 30 seconds. Ones off 3k pace 45 seconds
F: Easy or off
S: 10x200m hills, 10x150m hills all off jog back rest with a 5 min break in between
S: 80 min Longrun
You can’t do these workouts fully at threshold as you won’t make enough adaptations since you’re not running double threshold. Working down to faster paces than threshold reaching 5 mmol is what a lot of people do in single sessions such as the young Norwegian phenom Per Auguste Halle and other runners training under this system. I would also encourage getting some weight training in there too if possible. Overall the plan looks good and have fun doing this type of training. Good luck!
Unless you're training for a marathon, there's absolutely no need for a fast long run. It's already the biggest volume day, you don't need to add intensity to that, given that it's so far removed - in terms of specificity - from the demands of your events. You'll get some benefit, but that will be counteracted by the delayed recovery for other workouts that you should be prioritising.
OP, if you're really keen on focussing in on improving your threshold, that looks like a good plan. Just make sure that you keep it very relaxed on those longer threshold days (maybe even go for Sub-T on most of them). And I probably wouldn't go any faster than mile pace in the 200s, or else you'll likely struggle to recover for Saturday's workout.
You should probably also try to build up your easy mileage, so that you're doing at least 70% of your overall running as easy.
By "hard long run", I mean something like 6:15-30 pace for someone running upper 14's for 5000.
I saw you those workouts are the same as the ones that Matthew Hansen did this week so I’ll give some advice. Matthew does double threshold so that 1600, 10x200, 1600 is good for him since he did a threshold that morning but not enough for you since you’re only doing single threshold sessions. Here’s my two cents on a training schedule for you
M: Easy w/ Strides
T: 8x1k starting at 15k pace working down to 10k-8k pace. All off 60-90 seconds
W: Easy w/Strides
T: 20x400 starting at 10-8k pace working down to 3k pace. Ones at 10-8k pace off 30 seconds. Ones off 3k pace 45 seconds
F: Easy or off
S: 10x200m hills, 10x150m hills all off jog back rest with a 5 min break in between
S: 80 min Longrun
You can’t do these workouts fully at threshold as you won’t make enough adaptations since you’re not running double threshold. Working down to faster paces than threshold reaching 5 mmol is what a lot of people do in single sessions such as the young Norwegian phenom Per Auguste Halle and other runners training under this system. I would also encourage getting some weight training in there too if possible. Overall the plan looks good and have fun doing this type of training. Good luck!
You'll get even less adaptations if you do less of your workout at threshold.
If you read some of Bakken's writing, he talks about achieving the best results when staying about 0.5-0.8 mmol below the desired threshold for the duration of his workout. When he would attempt to go over at the end, his results would be worse. This is also what Jakob does.
The whole point of the Norwegian system is to improve the anaerobic threshold, which you do by spending as much time as possible just slightly below that intensity.
OP, your 200s will be enough of what Bakken calls an "x element", which is something slightly above threshold. And yeah, maybe rotate with 200m hills from week to week.
This anxiety about "not enough intensity" is why so many people get the system so wrong. You'll achieve the best results by gradually increasing the amount of threshold running, not by increasing the intensity.
The intensity can come in when you're in competition phase, but it should be done as its own workout, and you can drop some of the threshold.
The point of Bakkens training is maximize the amount of time running at the threshold zone. When doing only 8k of volume and single sessions you can’t do it just at threshold or else you won’t get better cause it’s just too light in the body. Per Auguste Halle is coached by his grandfather and his mom and his grandfather literally coached Marius Bakken. This is like doing a workout of just 10 200’s at 5k pace. You won’t get much better as the 200’s are far too slow since the reps are too short and the volume is too low. Would be better to run them at 1500 pace. Intensity of the threshold only matters when you’re doing either a big single session or a classic double threshold day which the poster above is nor doing for either.