When should 800/1500m and 1500m/5k guys be doing 300s, 400s, 600s, 800s, 1ks, or miler repeats. When should these guys be doing 'speed' workouts if they want to peak in May/June?
When should 800/1500m and 1500m/5k guys be doing 300s, 400s, 600s, 800s, 1ks, or miler repeats. When should these guys be doing 'speed' workouts if they want to peak in May/June?
In July and August
Unfortunately it's never that easy. An interval workout can mean a lot of different things to different people, depending on the distance of each repeat, total distance covered, type of recovery, length of recovery, and speed of the intervals. The closer you get to your competitive season, the more you need specific work to prepare yourself to run your best.
So an 800/1500 runner might very well do intervals from December to June, but trying to do 4x400 @ 800 pace or 10x400 @ faster than mile pace with short recovery for 6+ months would probably be suicide. In my personal opinion, some early season workouts like 12x200 @ Mile pace for 1500 guys, or some overdistance intervals for 800 guys, are appropriate. But it also has a lot to do with how those intervals fit in with the rest of your training. You can't ever treat one element of training as if it exists in a vacuum.
I'd recommend getting a coach.
Almost exactly right edumacator. Apart from one small detail; the interval is the recovery period between efforts. But of course you knew that already, n'est-ce pas?
I've got my kids doing a tempo, a long run and one interval workout each week. The rest is just mileage. Yesterday they did 12x200m at 2 mile pace with 100m jog recovery. They struggled because they haven't much quick work.