I am currently following the Daniel's plan for the 1500/3000 meter distances. I am usually more competitive at longer races so I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone and spend some time training for the shorter distances.
I am currently on my fourth week of Phase II and have just finished (or almost finished) the second of two 200, 200, 800 repeat (1:1 jog recovery) workouts. These 800 repeats at R (mile) pace are much more difficult than any other workouts during this phase. The repeats do have plenty of recovery time, but by the time I'm on my third and fourth 800 at mile pace they start feeling a lot like a race. These repeats even appear to be more difficult than any workouts in Phase III as well. I was wondering if this workout was designed to be much more difficult than the rest and/or why it is occurring in Phase II instead of Phase III.