For XC training, how should 600m repeats/intervals be ran?

600s should be run at 2:50-2:55. Recovery should be 1:30 of jogging. Although I cannot make you do anything, I would highly recommend sticking to that pace and jogging during the rest. The 600s will probably feel really easy, but that is a good thing. It's all about the aerobics and at this point you do not need to be hammering the fast intervals.

Ask Tinman about that workout over at the runzone.

Wow--your coach didn't give you any guidance as far as number of repetitions/time of recovery/recovery activity/pace? You'd really want to get that from him/her; s/he certainly has a better idea (than we do) about how the 600s should fit into your overall plan.

With all of that as a caveat, and assuming that you can't (somehow) get guidance from your coach:

1. Given that you have a big meet on Saturday, you probably don't want to do a huge volume tomorrow. Something between six (= 3600m of reps) and ten (= 6000m) should be fine; more likely you'll be in the six-to-eight range.

2. I'd suggest, based on your race-pace to date, that you run the 600s no faster than 7:00/mile pace--so ~2:37 or slower. Certainly nothing (including the last rep) faster than 2:30, BUT:

3a. Focus on running the recovery after each rep at a steady 60sec/200m! In other words, don't semi-kick the end of each 600, then start your recovery "jog" at a shuffle; instead, make it a smooth change of gears from 7:00/mile pace to 8:00/1600 pace. How much recovery? I dunno. Maybe a 1:00 200m recovery, or (more likely) a 2:00 400m or 3:00 600m. You'll know when you're ready for the next rep.

[If you do the workout this way, four to six reps may be plenty!]

OR:

3b. Don't worry about the recoveries at all (maybe walk a 200 after each rep), and just focus on running the 600s smoothly and efficiently. Instead of speeding up as you go through the workout, try to keep the same pace in each rep--and run more *easily* as you move from one rep to the next.

4. Take an extra break midway if you want. No point in flailing around or staggering out there.

Good luck this weekend. Please let us know how the race goes.

--lease

Well now im actually considering not doing the race because I have a small race on tuesday. Instead I can get a long run in on Friday, rest Saturday, Easy Run on Monday and race on tuesday. I haven't been hammering the intervals but my teammates are always racing them but I don't. When do I start hammering the intervals, is it before or during the tapering phase.

Tomorrow i'll run the 600m intervals at sub 5k race pace, its basically for speed endurance

Thanks for the great advice lease. My coach never has us jog between the intervals, he just makes us hammer them and im the only one from my team that is training smart right now. Most of the runners on my team are starting to peak at the 20/21 min 5k range, while the captain is peaking at 18/19. I can't really depend on advice from my coach so I try to research the best I can from the internet and I set up my own training plan.

I really think you should keep these at race pace. You would be shocked at how much improvement these workouts can bring.

Also, our team only tapers for one race, state. Every week is meant to slowly lower your times and then you taper for state and perform your best.

So, OP, what did you end up doing?

I couldn't do the 600s :( I went to my local high school to use their track but it turns out that they had a football game and the coach said I couldn't use the track. Instead of the 600s I ran a hard fartlek. Watson fartlek - 1 min easy 4 min hard = 30 minutes + 10 min warmup and cooldown. My team didn't train this hard yesterday since we have an invitational this saturday but im not running it because I would rather get my long run in and then run a good race on tuesday.

ran them good my firend, ran them good