(High School Team): I have a coach that for whatever reason, is very fond of having us do this workout where we do as such:
90 sec hard, 90 sec easier, 60 sec hard, 60 sec easier, 30 sec hard, 30 sec easier, 15 sec hard, 15 sec easier.
We then start the pattern over from 15 seconds easier back to 90 seconds hard.. this is only one of the flaws that i've personally noticed in the workout, because 15 seconds of recovery right after I just did the first set circuit is not enough to immediately run an entire 90/90 60/60 etc again, and for another 2-3 times as well. (We do 4-5 "circuits" of the 90/90 60/60 etc breakdown)
The next fault is that my coach asks me to do all of the hard running at my 2 mile pace. I run 3200 in about 9:30 and I personally find that to be an insane expectation because when "fartleking" you should generally not slow down all that much on the off part as i've been told. It shouldn't take much for you all to get at what im talking about with this.
Anyway, the big picture is that I think this workout is basically just a waste of time and all it does is sore me out for the next two days, and i've come to the point where I just tempo the 28 minutes and if we're on a slow portion when we run by my coach I act like im going slow.
Opinions on the workout or really any on how to deal with a lunatic coach that never has a specific reason for doing the workouts given?