4xMile @ 5k pace w/ 1 min rest: too hard

I have done a very simliar workout 4xmile( 4:48,1min rest, 4:45,1min rest, 4:42, 1min rest,4:42. physiologically and psychology speaking i'm guessing your coach is having you do this to have you get use to the discomfort of the pace at a distance slight longer than your race distance, so that when you start to hurt you just shrug at the thought an say i have done 6.437376 km at this pace and this is only a 5k. this is just a personal thought from a coach

You are correct. This work out we called "Sausages" because of the long WI and short rest. If was always run below AT therefore most runners less than 91% of MHR. You should feel like you could do more at the end. If the coach is hell bent on 5k pace (close to 100% of MHR) then the work out should start at much slower than 5k pace and speed up each rep until you do not improve the speed. So some of the athletes end up doing two reps and others may end up doing 3-4. The last reps being at approx 5k pace. Some coaches use a variation of this work out to determine 5k race target. Then you would do 3x1600 (jog 1-2 min) run at a challenging but not all out pace. If the three reps vary by more than 10 seconds scratch this work out and try another day. If all three are similar then average pace plus 15seconds (per rep) will give projected 5k race pace.

Just out of curiosity, which one of the freshmen is Warhurst trying to get injured with this workout?

I agree 100% - good post coach

So what was the result? can you tell us how the workout went? after all this banter it would be interesting to see the rep times and what the eventual workout was!

sparky lyle wrote:

Dee One wrote:

As I said to a previous poster, one minute rest is much different than the two minutes rest you are describing. Two completely different workouts, so what was the point of your post.

Uh, that a 400 jog was a more appropriate recovery than a minute?

I thought it was obvious. But I can repeat as needed until you get it.

You never had a point to your post and it certainly wasn't obvious. It looked like you were pretty proud of yourself for doing that workout and were comparing it to the workout in question. If you felt like they were different (which obviously they are) you would have explained why you were posting that instead of just saying what you were able to do. Sorry I wasn't able to figure it out for myself and thanks for clarifying.

I think the OP's coach is laughing his ass off while reading this thread and figuring out his athlete lacks sack

I think you're probably right on the money with this one. When I was in high school, we did the same workout but with 3:00 rest, and our coach even quoted the international coach Dr. Rosa as having his athletes do this workout in the past.

The one argument I would make with what you said though is kind of one of semantics.

It could be that maybe the OP and other runners recently did a 5k which would probably be slower than their track 5k pr. Even if they haven't raced a 5k in a while, their CURRENT 5k pace is probably much slower and probably more like what their 8k pace will be later this season.

So when the coach is suggesting 4 x mile @ 5k pace, it possibly doesn't mean their 5k PR pace but what they could run for a 5k right now, and that might be more do-able.

For instance, if my 5k pr was 15:35 (say 5:00 min/mile), but after the summer my current best today for 5k is say 16:20 (say 5:15 min/mile) do to different training, then I could see where the coach wants his athletes to the 4 x 5:15 min/mile w/ 1 min rest as opposed to the 4 x 5:00 min/mile w/ 1 min rest.

I still agree with what you said, but I'm just questioning what exactly the coach of the OP means by 5k pace: 5k PR pace or CURRENT 5k pace? So I suppose this is more directed at the OP who is the only one who would know the answer to this question for sure.

tio76 wrote:

workout wrote:

...my college coach said thats the workout for tommarow.

"tommarow"?

Dude, where do you go to college?

this is obviously an ethiopian student on the team. he just forgot to capitalize his name.

That workout is absolutely retarded, its an interval (VO2max)paced workout with the recovery of cruise interval threshold runs...stupid!! you could try this workout and it will still stress VO2max, but the down side is that the recovery is too short for your body to recieve any type of recovery. This will put your body under extreme stress which is unneeded and burnout becomes a much bigger possibility. The recommended rest for a VO2max session is equal to the amount of time worked during a workbout. So probably somewhere between 4:40 and 4:50 for you.

workout wrote:

mid 14's track pr . I know a lot about training and I personally think that its nuts but my college coach said thats the workout for tommarow.

I think there are better workouts you can do. 3x1600 in 4.30-4.35 with 5 minutes recovery.

I am quite interested in this thread as I have just been told to do (and done) 5 x 1k with 90 secs rest at my target 5k pace i.e slightly quicker than PB. Session went well and gave me confidence but I don't know whether it was the "correct" recovery, felt right for me. I didn't get massively tired but close to race effort and hopefully some V02 benefit.

My season is a slightly strange shape as I have a target race of 5k in 2 weeks time before starting my XC base building with my big XC races in March. So was it sensible? Any thoughts?

I notice that the original poster has not responded.

Trolling?

what most of you dick cheeses don't realize is that sometimes there are reasons behind a particular workout, other than increasing fitness. some people would call it "callousing" - making you tougher, getting out of your comfort zone and as oopsy points out, measuring the amount of sack.

oopsy daisy wrote:

I think the OP's coach is laughing his ass off while reading this thread and figuring out his athlete lacks sack

BINGO! Well said!

So, what is the result of this workout????????????????????????

I think there are better workouts you can do. 3x1600 in 4.30-4.35 with 5 minutes recovery.

WELLNOW... that sounds very much like a VO2Max workout. Jtupper would be proud of you.

The athlete Tim Hutchins the coach the great Frank Horwill

workout wrote:

Is the workout of 4 repeat miles at 5k pace with a minute recovery too hard.

I would say that workout is impossible. 4x1600 at 5k pace with 3-4 minutes rest inbetween is pretty standard as that is a pretty hard workout by itself. I don't really see it being possible with only one minute rest inbetween.