What is the Oregon 30-40 drill ?

Run 200 in 30 seconds, the next one in 40 seconds, then continue that way until you can no longer maintain that pace. Pre is said to have the record for the longest distance covered in that workout. Someone with a better memory than mine might be able to tell you how far he went.

IIRC:

1. run 200m in 30 sec or less

2. run 200m in 40 sec or less

3. repeat until failure, no rest

your score is your distance

Pre made it 20 laps, Rupp went 24 and was told to stop.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/2008/10/more_on_rupps_workout.html

More on Rupp's workout

Posted by Doug Binder October 22, 2008 20:26PM

Categories: Galen Rupp

It's not often that an athlete's workout rises to the level of news, but it certainly was last weekend with Galen Rupp's 30-40 workout, which replaced a chance to run for the viewing public Saturday at Clackamas Community College.

Nobody is under any illusions any more that Alberto Salazar, who has coached Rupp since high school, calls the shots. But Salazar says Vin Lananna and Andy Powell were aware of the decision to skip the meet and approved it as the smart thing to do.

In the week prior, Rupp had been experiencing some soreness in one of the metarsal bones of his foot. Salazar was nervous that a stress fracture, or reaction, might develop. And certainly, the uneven terrain at Clackamas seemed a little too risky. Rupp has been wearing an orthotic in his shoe to help prevent any problem from getting worse.

The pain had subsided in his foot by mid week and Rupp didn't appear to be favoring it during his 30-40 workout.

A little more about that. Alberto handled the stopwatch and shouted the numbers at each 200.

I wrote the splits down on a piece of paper once I got a little firmer grasp about what was going on, starting after the first mile was completed. The first mile, by the way, was 4:36, the second 4:35.5... and so on. In about the fourth mile, some of the slow 200s crept up to about 40.6 and the fast ones to 30.6 or 30.7 ... which is allowable, I guess, in this workout. But nothing reached 41 or 31. Some of those tenths added up to a 4:41 mile, which was the slowest of the bunch.

His final mile was about 4:37.

Several days later, Rupp did a 20-miler and did it at 5:18 pace. Again, with no foot problems.

Cross country

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

DOUG BINDER

The Oregonian Staff

As workouts go, the one called "30-40" is almost mythic among Oregon distance runners.

Devised by former Oregon coach Bill Dellinger in the 1970s, it is a difficult test of endurance and will.

Oregon senior Galen Rupp, who backed out of a plan to run in a low-key collegiate race at Clackamas Community College on Saturday, took on the 30-40 workout instead and surpassed even his expectations.

The 30-40 consists of this: Run the first half of a 400-meter lap in 40 seconds, the second half in 30 seconds. And repeat, as often as you can stand to do it. It requires repeatedly pushing into anaerobic territory, recovering slightly and doing it again.

"The record was five miles, by Steve Prefontaine," said Alberto Salazar, Rupp's coach and a former Oregon star. "I think the furthest I ever made it was four miles."

Running at the Nike campus track Saturday morning, with the leaves swept out of Lane 1, Rupp pushed through one of the toughest track workouts of his career, speeding up and slowing down over and over -- for 24 laps. That's six miles, completed in 27 minutes, 57 seconds.

"I thought I'd struggle to get through four miles," Rupp said. "I just took it one lap at a time because that's more manageable than 'Nine laps to go.' "

Rupp had hoped to race in the Mike Hodges Invitational.

When Salazar went to inspect the course Friday afternoon, he had concerns about sections that he said were "rutty."

"If it rained, and softened up, and was stomped back down again, (the course) will probably be fine again," Salazar said.

Rupp, who runs on the front of his foot, is prone to foot injuries or twisted ankles when racing on uneven ground. As a freshman at the NCAA pre-national meet, he accidentally stepped in a small hole and injured the navicular bone in one of his feet.

"I was a little disappointed but it'd be silly to take a risk and get hurt," said Rupp, who was on his way to the Portland area from Eugene when Salazar called him to suggest an alternative. "I wanted to run a race to get a hard effort in. It's fun racing; that's why you train."...

Rupp is already as fit as Salazar was at his peak, and likely well past Pre also. This kid, you can joke about the breath-rites and his effeminate appearance, is the real dealio. Best of luck to him.

crazy to think he could have gone further in that workout.

That seems like a good deal for current legends to see how they stack up against prior legends.

Is any modification made for runners that are "sub legend" status (like me) to run the workout at a more appropriate pace for their level, or do they just run ## laps and call it a day?

WallyWorld wrote:

That seems like a good deal for current legends to see how they stack up against prior legends.

Is any modification made for runners that are "sub legend" status (like me) to run the workout at a more appropriate pace for their level, or do they just run ## laps and call it a day?

haha, I know of some Oregon guys who could only make it 8-9 laps so I doubt there was any alteration, I suppose you might alter it if you thought you couldn't even make 4 so that you can get more of a workout.

10k pace in minutes x 1.1 = fast runs

fast runs x 4/3 = slow runs

4x (fast run + slow run) = pace for 4 laps

Thanks mathematician. That would make a more sensible workout for a mere mortal. It projects a solid enough fast rep for me and I wouldn't have to pack it in after 5 laps.

You can NOT alter it. You run this workout and the distance you complete tells you what you could run in a 5k race. Altering it would be stupid and a completely different workout.

How does the DISTANCE you complete forcast what time you can run in a 5k race.

Is there a special formula to calculate that, or does that just work if you run 13 70 second laps?

Okay, I remember it now.

It is the only 5k/10k workout that Dellinger didn't have 800 meter guys do.

I'd forgotten it, because I'd only ever watched it done.

If Billy McChesney had been with Rupp that day, he'd have matched it, or passed out trying. He would never give in.

Funny, they both had very similar running style, ball of the foot, forefoot "gliders."

Galen reminded me of Billy last weekend when he took off and glided at high speed.

It's almost eerie.

spoke about it over pizza wrote:

You can NOT alter it. You run this workout and the distance you complete tells you what you could run in a 5k race. Altering it would be stupid and a completely different workout.

No, no, no. The 30-40 has a specific physiological effect on a runner like Rupp, and a different physiological effect on a slower (or faster) runner. The 30 is pretty much his mile pace. A bit slower, perhaps. The 40 is below his aerobic threshold, so for him, it is like a very fast recovery. He does not incur any additional oxygen debt during the 40. For a slower runner, for whom the 30 might be 800 pace and the 40 might be a bit slower than 10k pace, this workout becomes a completely different beast, and accomplishes something very different. For Rupp, this is a very challenging fartlek-style workout. For a slower runner, it is simply a time-trial with surges.

You could effectively duplicate the physiological effects of this workout by doing 200m at mile pace and then 200m at mile pace +10 sec/200m. So a 4:20 miler would do 32.5/42.5.

However, I think a lot of the mythos behind this workout is because a) it is "legendary" because Pre did it, and b) it's a nice even number. 29/39 just doesn't have that nice ring to it. But, in my opinion, basing your training off hitting nice numbers isn't a very sound approach.

Agreed.

I know this is an old thread but I don't get the no rest part.

Are you just running several 70 second or less 400s in a row without stopping or Do you run a 200 in 30 stop for like a few seconds and then run a 40 second 200?

No breaks. It's just reeling off unevenly paced 4:40s. You have to be very fit to even get 2 miles in.

I was an 800 runner in college and we did 40/30 for 1200m.

Then rest 3 min.

3 sets of 1200

It was a nice medium-hard workout that feel very easy at first and then catch up to you.

Never tried to do one set gif as long as I could.

I wonder how long Bekele could go 30/40.