I am a high school 3200m runner. Today my coach had me run this workout:
3 by 1600 at 5:20 (3 minutes rest in between) and then 6 by 200 at 34. I thought the workout was stupid, and suggested to my teammate that we should have done this:
2 mile warmup, 4 mile run progressing from 6:00 to 5:00 or just under, plus 2 by 400 at 68 at the end to simulate the end of the race. 1 mile cool down.
Whats better?
Tempo workouts don't do much at the end of the season. A race simulation is always a nice idea though.
For May, I would say the one you did was a little better than the one you wanted to do. They both accomplish essentially the same thing-- 16-20 minutes of quick tempo plus a few laps to feel race rhythm. The details are not all that important. Good w/o either way.
Will follow this thread with some interest as 3200 m workouts are an issue with our team (3200 m runners typically treated like milers-800 runners in a one size fits all approach).
Anyway, some threshold about every other week even in later season is okay, and the 200s were mile pace. A decent workout, not too stressful. The other workout also has merit. I guess I assume increase 15-20 sec/mile. Those are tough.
Negative split 1200s x 4 (go for 80-78-75)
4 x 150 strides or 300/200/100
Yeah, thats what I thought. I just thought the one I did was way too easy.
It is not a gut buster, true. If you have 2-3 recovery days until the next meet, I also like the 1200 cut downs. But your coach knows your program, and we do not -- your PRs, what meets you have coming up, how long 'til State, whether you're doubling at meets, and how frequent your meets are, whether you usually peak well or tend to burn out, etc. My point is, the whole program is what will make you fast, not any single workout.