4-6x 800m @ 5kpace w/ full recovery ... good winter maintance workout?

i can say with some experience with that exact workout and being only slightly faster over 5k that this is a great winter workout, only try to do it starting with 3 minute recovery (if you must) and shortening the recovery a bit each week until you can do it with 200m jog. i guess i should add that the timed recovery you should at least be pretending to jog. this is important and makes you good.

with a workout like this, which you can and really should do each week you should try to change one thing each week:

pace

recovery

reps

if you can improve one of those each week soon you'll be where you want to be.

rock on.

I'm not a coach, but to me, that sounds more like a workout to do when you're peaking. IMO, a winter base training workout would be something like 6-8 x 800 @ 10K pace with a 200 meter or so recovery.

4-6 x 800 at 5k pace with 3 minutes rest is so easy. I would hardly call it a workout you would do during peak fitness. I used to do 6x 8 at slightly fater than 3k pace with 2 min rest. What you have is a good maintenance workout although i would shorten the rest and I would not advise you to do this workout every week. It will get boring. Mix it up with other distances and or paces.

It would help everyone involved if we knew what event you did. How can we know if this is a good workout plan if we don't know if you are a 1500 meter runner or a 10k runner.

Instead of 4-6 x 800 @ 5k pace w 3 min recovery

you would be better off doing 10-12 x 400 w 400 jog and running it 80% effort which should put yu in the 2k to 3k race pace range.

This will keep some speed in your legs and help you maintain good form during base season but will not tax your body much or take away from the aerobic conditioning of your base training.

Another alternative would be: 20-24 x 200 w 200 jog, again at 80% effort. Just keeping some speed and form in the legs. Almost like good striders but with a little more meat to them.

This is an excellent all purpose workout. I ran an indoor 5k that was at the time one second of my outdoor pr(and is still my third fastest 5k), a 3k pr and a mile pr off of this as a staple workout. The key to this though is that every other aspect of your training has to be really good as well. I was insanely strong at the time from a great christmas base period. The weekly long tempo should fit this purpose.

I do agree with the idea that you may want to mix it up, I used to do it mostly as a progression, start at 5k pace+1 second per lap, and finish at 5k pace-1 second per lap. You could also do 2x1k, 2x800, 2x600, or you could do 4-5x800 + 4-8x200 to finish it off.

Don't get me wrong, all of the other workouts mentioned will work well, but this specifically is a workout I have had a lot of success with.

curious jorge 123 wrote:

Once I've hit my peak mileage for the winter and hold it for a week or two, my coach wants me to do 2 quality days a week. One of the quality days will be a long tempo, which I am [accustomed] to and have done in the past with much success. The other quality day will be the workout mentioned in the title with a long warm-up and a long cool-down. Will this workout "burn me out?" For me, this workout would go something like this..

3 mile warm-up

4-6 x 800m in 2:38-2:40 with 3 minute recovery

3 mile cool-down

My peak track race will be late May. These workouts will probably start early January.. Too soon? Thanks for the advice.

Nope, not too soon and shouldn't burn you out at all!

As always, I'd urge you to talk with your coach and find out his/her reasoning in setting this schedule; s/he may have had you, and your specific strengths, weaknesses, and goals in mind when doing so. As an outsider, I'd probably want a little more info before weighing in.

I'd guess my first question might be whether you'll be competing indoors--and, if so, whether the indoor season is meaningful for you--and my second question would be what distance your peak race in May (likely) will be.

But the more I think about it, the more I think that I might not advocate much of a difference in your winter training, regardless of your answers. Oops, that prompts the third question: How long would your coach want you to continue this particular "quality" workout? A few weeks, a couple months (i.e. right through the end of indoor season), or all the way to the end of outdoor? If it's only going to be for a month or two, and you'll be getting some indoor races as well, that workout may be spot on for you.

With their moderate pace (assuming it *is* moderate, for you), moderate volume, and very good recoveries, these 800 reps will enable you to maintain a muscle memory for 5k pace, without a significant amount of fatigue. (The rests here *prevent* fatigue--they don't pay off an oxygen debt.) In fact, overall this should be one of your easier sessions of the week!--and it certainly should not drain your adaptation reserves (= "burn you out"), because all you're doing is maintaining an already-developed skill: efficient movement at 5k pace.

Different things work for different people, of course, but I'd say give this a try. I think you'll be pleased, both with the session itself and with how good you feel when running the next day. The one thing I'd add (and it may have been implicit in the "warmup" that you'll do before the 800s) is to finish the easy warmup run with a few accelerations ("strides"), building to 5k speed in the first, 3k speed in the second, 1500 speed in the third, and 800 speed in the fourth.

A workout pattern like you posted will let you keep your winter focus primarily on your mileage, while helping you avoid having to "relearn" race pace in the spring. Sounds like it could work for you!

In any case, please bump this thread in a few weeks/months and let us know how things go.

I was doing workouts like this (800 or 1000 at 5k pace with 2-3 minutes rest, 4-6 reps) in high school during the winter. I opened my season in the 9:40 range at the beginning of March and ended sub 9:20. I was already pretty decently developed so it wasnt like I improved a whole bunch from the season before, that workout can be applied anywhere and you will still peak well if the rest of your program sets you up to.

I am sophomore in college and I am focusing on the 5000m (peak race late May). Our school has no indoor program, and I don't plan on running any unattached. I am running about 60-70mpw.

I was running about 60 for the time given, but I think overall my system is relatable to yours.