Hi, I'm a high school cross country runner. While on a distance run with my teammates, we got into a discussion about a supposed 400 meter interval workout, and it lead to a disagreement.
Say that we were doing 16x400 with 60 second recovery, at about 70-71 seconds per.
A few of my teammates think that it may be beneficial to run the first quarter at about 65 seconds, building up some lactic acid in our legs, and running the slower pace of 71 seconds for the rest of the 15. They claim this would be beneficial both physically and mentally as it would teach our bodies to run a certain pace despite lactic acid buildup, and also prepare for a race that may go out fast.
The other group beleives that that is pointless. They claim that it would do more harm than good, and possibly make you acustom to going out too fast in a race. They say that a better workout would either be to run an even pace but slightly faster (70 seconds).
So which workout do you think is more beneficial for a High School Cross Country runner?
I realize different coaches have different views on a lot of things, and they may all agree on a side here or all disagree. Please voice your opinion