Spikez you no he need a mile training program and a coach. Not a new workout evey day.
Spikez you no he need a mile training program and a coach. Not a new workout evey day.
SoCal, So true. You guys set a great standard both on the track and on this board.
.,.
I agree with Pete that 8-12 x 400 with short rests is a great mile workout for masters. Breaking it into sets of 4 isn't necessary, but it's a good way to keep the pace high enough to be good mile training, instead of having the last 4 or so turn into 5k race pace.
Here is an alternative that has worked well for me.
2 miles WU
700 very hard - tying up for the last 100
400 jog recovery
1600 about 5k race pace
300 recovery
700 hard uphill
200 recovery
6 sets of 5 phone poles on, 2 off. Sometimes 4 on and 3 off, focusing on really getting up.
I don't think the exact details matter --- this workout started as a fartlek run along the trail/road from work to my house. I think it works for the mile because:
1. You get some lactic acid early on, and then have to run a mile feeling it.
2. The next mile and 700 leave you tired.
3. And then you do some real speed work, which requires that you stay calm and efficient while not slowing down, which is what lap 3 of a mile is all about.
I ran 4:32 - 4:38 the last three years (43-45 years old) at the world-famous and much-coveted Montana Men's Master's Indoor Mile by substituting this workout once a week into my regular training for 6 weeks. The other training was more oriented to long trail stuff or XC ski racing.
pete is right wrote:
I'm not even close to being a master (HS runner), but 12-14 X 400 @ goal mile pace (73-75) with 75s rest helped me to get from just under 5 to the mid 4:40s, along with a weekly tempo run of about 20 minutes (3.5 miles or so).
Good; however, you also had the tempo run in there each week. In our OP's case, we're making the assumption that he's only doing the 400 workout. I'm not trying to be insulting; I'm just pointing out that your program may, in fact, be a little more well-rounded than the OP's.
I think that the key point that needs to be brought up again is that the suggested workouts are both "suggested" and they should be worked up to. This is especially true for us masters because we don't bounce back from injuries as easily.
Rubio does that with his stuff. If you want to run 5-minute pace for the 5K, you don't start off with 3 * 1600m at 5-minutes. Based on suggestions he gave on the old MERV forum, he might have you start with 200m at 37-38 for the first month, move up to 12 * 400 at 75 the next month, and then onto 600s, etc. All the while, he has you touching on other areas at different speeds as well. It all builds on each other.
I do have DRF in front of me. The 400s with a 400m recovery is just one part of the workout plan. It is done early in the season to build leg speed. Since the goal is legspeed, longer rests are given so that the desired pace can be held. However, there is also always a tempo run in there each week. The guy whom I quoted basically did that and was pretty succesful. Many people can be successful that way.
Later on, however, Daniels stresses a different system by having the runner run longer repeats a slower pace w/ less rest.
Allan Lawrence (The Self-Coached Runner) stated that each workout should have a purpose and stress a particular system. You might be running 400s at 80s with a very short rest one day. While you could easily do them in 72, that's not going to make that particular workout more successful. There will be a day to run them in 72 and a reason to do so at that point in time.
Right now, our runner is apparently stressing one system. I believe that SoCalPete and others believe that he can improve by stressing other systems as well.
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