Running the first rep of a workout too hard and slowing down - any benefits to the workout?

If you're straining your body, you're improving.

stay at home runner wrote:

If you're straining your body, you're improving.

You're right, and she needs to know not to worry about this workout, but she is right that she should be aiming for a more balanced pace throughout the workout and not to overly strain herself on part of it.

'Is it possible to predict a 1600/3200 time off of this workout?'

New year resolution - starting early- no stupid prediction questions answered

Your body tells your mind the correct race pace not the other way round

All training has an effect. Over time build that session upto 4 x 1,000m in 3:46 0ver 6 months - aim for say 3:55 to begin with and trying to get more consistent on the times

I would skip the 300's at then end. Keep that as a seperate session say start with 8 x 300m, 100m jog walk rec

Don't vary workouts too much make that 4 x 1,000m one of your regular workouts

ukathleticscoach wrote:

All training has an effect. Over time build that session upto 4 x 1,000m in 3:46 0ver 6 months - aim for say 3:55 to begin with and trying to get more consistent on the times

I would skip the 300's at then end. Keep that as a seperate session say start with 8 x 300m, 100m jog walk rec

Don't vary workouts too much make that 4 x 1,000m one of your regular workouts

This is correct.

1000m repeats are a nice Winter workout for HS milers. When we run them, we start by finding a time you can run evenly, balanced with determining the appropriate # of reps. E.g., in your case, I'd agree to start with 3:55 or maybe even 4:00, but do 4-5 of them. When you're ready to move forward, I'd focus first on reducing rest (without sacrificing time) before worrying about speeding up.

Yes that's the plan to do 4 next week, 5 after etc. This was my first 1000 repeat workout in a while, just doing at least one interval session before the first indoor races start.

bump

HS east coast runner wrote:Anyway, did I still get some benefit even though I went out way too fast? Next time I plan to run even splits (will also probably be 5x1000).

Yes, there was a benefit. You learned that going out in 3:46 and maintaining was beyond your ability at the moment. You also got some training benefit. So now you have a piece of useful information and another notch in the training belt.

Learning your capabilities and learning to maximize your use of those capabilities will result in the occasional workout that doesn't go as planned. That's one of the ways you bracket in. You don't want to run even pace in repeats because that's the only way you get a training effect, you want to run even pace because in a race situation you'll maximize your performance and you're learning how to do it.

If you aren't able to maintain paces in workouts all the time you have something you need to correct, but one time isn't anything to worry about. The only thing I would suggest is to cut the recovery time on those longer repeats. A 600 jog is a lot of recovery when what you really want it to train yourself to hold pace under fatigue.

I know this isn't the best predictor workout, but do you think it is possible for me to run around 5:30-40 in the mile based off of this?

Disclaimer: I'm not a coach and don't run 1000s.

That said, I think your fastest 1000 only equates to a low 6 min mile. The fact that you couldn't repeat the 1000 at that speed says to me that 5:30 might be a stretch for current fitness.

Anecdotally, this year I ran a 5:26 mile and a couple weeks later 18:30 for 5k, which happens to be right at 6 pace. That is how I came to my conclusion.

We've had girls in our program run anywhere from low 5:20s to high 5:30s (indoor) on several weeks of 4-6 x 1000 with 1:30 to 2 min rest when they're consistently hitting 3:55 or so. Not sure how much good that does you right now though, it's obviously conditional upon a few more things than a weekly diet of 1000s. Good luck this season, hope you do well!