High School 3k Training

Lots of goal pace work. 3-4x 1000 w/ 600 jog works well, as does 5+ 800's w/ 400 jog. Your winter mileage was fine, but I don't like seeing that big of a drop when the quality work begins. It should be possible to balance the two better than that and be more consistent year-round.

Dan

http://www.VOQTraining.com

4x1000m at 3k pace? Hah! I've ran 8:49 and I don't think I would do a workout like that more than once or twice in a six-month cycle. I could do "lots" of those types of workouts, but I know for SURE that it isn't something I should do.

bxcton: My state doesn't have indoor track, so I ran mileage all winter long in high school. 50-55mpw as a junior, 65-80 as a senior. Goal pace workouts for 3k runners are really overrated, especially for a high schooler. What you need is aerobic development, and this is accomplished two ways:

1) relaxed easy to moderate mileage

2) high end aerobic running (tempo/progression runs)

It sounds like you don't have much control over your workout schedule, but my advice is to NOT kill yourself in workouts. That'll just flame you out by the time outdoor rolls around. When I was in college training for the 3k indoors, a typical week would look like this:

m-long tempo run (6-8mi at ~86% of current 5k pace)

t-easy

w-short repeats (16x200 at 3k-1mi pace w/ 200 jog rec) OR cruise intervals (8x1000m at 92% 5k w/ 60sec rec)

t-easy

f-RACE

s-easy or easy long run (biweekly)

s-easy or recovery run

Now, since I was older and more experienced, an easy day for me was 4-5mi in the morning and 8-9mi in the evening; total weekly mileage was 80-90mpw; sometimes more. But the same principles apply—NONE of these workouts (except for the race of course!) were "hard" workouts. I only did ONE real workout at 3k goal pace before I set my PR in the event—it was 5x800m with 2:30 rec. One workout, that's it. Other than that, my workouts were all either long high end aerobic stuff or short, quick mechanical work like the 16x200m workout above.

anyways that was a long winded post but my point is this: focus on long term development by 1) doing more easy mileage and 2) focusing on high-end aerobic running and every so often, a short session of fast-but-not-hard speed with plenty of recovery.

Good luck!

ufda--the big midwest wrote: Goal pace workouts for 3k runners are really overrated, especially for a high schooler.

Goal pace probably, depending on how far out your goal is and how realistic it is, but 3k pace is Vo2 max pace. While I feel Vo2 max training is a bit overhyped, it is certainly a viable training pace. Joe Vigil and other top American coaches say 1 Vo2 max session every other week during base and 1 a week during the season keeps your at your top Vo2 values. I'd bet he knows what hes talking about. He has coaches a few good runners.

Also, I'd say if anyone definitely had to do Vo2 max it would be the hs kid because his training age is lower and needs a broader stimulus of training to build up.

Thanks a lot! Very helpful guys

ufda--the big midwest wrote:

4x1000m at 3k pace? Hah!

Goal pace workouts for 3k runners are really overrated, especially for a high schooler. What you need is aerobic development...

1) Well, I did say 3-4x, not 4x. For most such workouts, the top end of the range is the ultimate goal but the bottom end is what's expected and accepted.

2) My hope is to get more people to understand that pace work and aerobic development are not mutually exclusive... The two go together quite well if the planning is in place.

If you can't handle regular workouts at that level, then I feel that you're racing too hard, too often, and limiting: a) peaking quality, and b) long-term development as a result. I'm using "you" in the general sense, as I know very little about "ufda--the big midwest."

Dan