What is the hardest workout/race you have ever done?

hardest race/workout:

a mountain race for the purposes of a hard workout, 6.5mile, >4600ft elevation gain, and i was not properly prepared for mountain races - collapse, traumatic.

Long runs with a permanent side stitch at a summer running camp when I was a teenager. They repeatedly had us work out immediately after meals. The stitch wouldn't go away afterwards, it lasted about a week.

First Marathon is easily the most difficult race I've ever run. I wasn't expecting it to be so hard, even though every one and every book I read described it as brutal. The last two miles had small rolling mole hills and cambered roads to deal with. You would have thought that someone asked me to climb Everest by the manner in which I dealt with those hills.

Most Difficult workout? 10 mile warm up followed by 10 at Marathon Pace after a depleting week of running beforehand. This was in preparation for my second and every other marathon after my first. I do not want to experience the hurt of my first marathon again.

Runner2far wrote:

I am a runner. Did track, everything, did some hard workouts.

But the thing that got me trashed was a 2k indoor rowing match.

Rowing is much harder on the body....

2Ks are brutal. In college, during winter erg season, our coach would write the day's workout on a big easel pad so we could see it. One day we sat down on the ergs and he told us he didn't think we (the team) had been pushing ourselves hard enough, and then revealed the workout "1000m x ?"

He said that he would only let each person off when we had fully exhausted ourselves. 1st 1000m, push as hard as possible fly and die until the end. Then we set the ergs back up. 1000m again. And again. And again. More painful that the last each time, but still slower still. I think the first guy was let off the machine after 7 pieces. I was let off after 8 or 9. I think some guys did up to 11. That is the most painful workout I've ever done.

Paul Short 2013. 95 degrees during the race watching bodies drop to the ground throughout the race. The course was filled with ambulances. Only race Ive ever contemplated dropping out. I can only imagine how bad marathons get when its that hot.

Walter White wrote:

Paul Short 2013. 95 degrees during the race watching bodies drop to the ground throughout the race. The course was filled with ambulances. Only race Ive ever contemplated dropping out. I can only imagine how bad marathons get when its that hot.

^Is this real?!

Hardest workout was the old classic, 1000s at 5k pace with 400 meter jog recovery until you miss pace on two in a row. I always hated/loved 1000s because they are a perfect blend of long(er) quick(er) intervals. We also didn't do a lot of 5k pace mile repeats, so the Tempo paced ones we did do were easier.

Anyway, I remember from interval 7 until I stopped at 12 that I kept thinking, every time I finished and was still on pace, "I am going to jog the next one." I think I missed 11 but was back on pace on 12 and Coach said that was enough. No wonder I was never a national champ, getting pulled out a workout.

KEZ16 wrote:

Anything from marathon long runs, long tempo runs or hard fast speed workouts or maybe it might of been the environment you ran in.

For me its a long interval session on a hilly muddy xc course last winter which consisted of 6x1 mile efforts at a little faster than 10k effort with 1 minute recoveries and to finish off 10x100m sprints on steep hill which was more like crawling at the end of the session.

Workout - For me it was a 21 miler fast one month before a marathon - First 15 miles at my marathon pace. Next 3 - 10 seconds faster per mile - Last 3 - 5 seconds faster per mile than the previous 3. This was excellent prep for a marathon but really wiped me out. It affect my training for a week or so so it may not have been wise to run the last 6 so fast ( for me ). I did PR my marathon and broke 3 hrs for the first time 8 days after my 40th birthday with only 6 years of running experience. This was my hardest workout by far which I measure by how long it takes to recover. I have done hard interval workout but you usually recover in two days.

haven't had to do it, but my friend has, and it looks like hell

4 broken 800s

run a 600 at race pace/rest 30 seconds/run a 200 at race pace/rest 4 minutes

times 4

it's also impossible to hit your times after the first or second one. it's just a death march

Chicago Marathon 2007

I was in twelfth'ish place at 25km. Was holding strong until 30km and just decided to stop running. My coach and I all week talking before the race thought 2:25-2:26 was doable, but we had no clue of the freak weather that was going to roll in on race day.

Most of the smart people either didn't start or dropped out at the half mark (closest spot to the start). I didn't have the cash to hit up another marathon and put all my eggs into that basket. At 30km, I stopped, and walked all the way back to the start line.

The first time I did a Michigan workout as a college freshman. After the first time, you knew what was coming so that mental shock wasn't there after that. I was surprised to find descriptions of it on the web as set out below but I remember maybe a 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes and not 2-3 minutes between the track phase and the tempo road phase. Years later I measured the stadium loop and believe it to be more than a mile maybe 1 1/2 miles (I just mapped my run in the best I could and it appears to be 1.68 miles - of course with construction, the route may have been altered because some of the football buildings didn't exist back then). Next time, I'm there I'll measure it again. And I remember running the track and tempo portions much faster than described below. This is all probably due to Ron never explaining exactly what was to take place. Instead, it was just get out there and run. I remember doing the first mile on the track as fast as 4:30 with only Gerard Donakowski a few seconds ahead; jogging 200 meters; running the tempo 1 1/2 miles at what seemed like 5:30-5:45 pace; jogging 100-200 meters to start 1200 on track; running 1200 in similar pace as to mile, etc.

From the web -

Here’s how to do a standard version of The Michigan:

— Warm up with 2-3 miles of easy jogging followed by 4-6 x 20-second strides.

— Run 1 mile (4 laps) on the track at your current 10K race pace.

— After the mile on the track, jog 2-3 minutes off the track to the start of where you’ll run a mile at your tempo run pace. An out-and-back stretch of road or dirt loop work well for this part of the workout.

— Run 1 mile off the track at your tempo pace, or roughly 20 seconds per mile slower than the mile you just ran on the track.

— After completing the mile off the track, jog 2-3 minutes back to the track for the next interval.

— Back on the track, run 1,200m (3 laps) at your current 10K pace, aiming to hit the same lap splits you ran for the first mile of the workout.

— After the 1,200 on the track, jog 2-3 minutes off the track back to the start of where you’ll run your second tempo mile.

— Run 1 mile off the track at your tempo pace.

— After completing the mile off the track, jog 2-3 minutes back to the track for the third interval.

— Back on the track, run 800m (2 laps) at your current 5K race pace, or roughly 4-5 seconds per lap faster than you ran your first two track intervals.

— After the 800 on the track, jog 2-3 minutes off the track back to the start of where you’ll run your third (and last) tempo mile.

— Run 1 mile off the track at your tempo pace.

— After completing the mile off the track, jog 2-3 minutes back to the track for the last interval.

— Back on the track, run 400m (1 lap) faster than your current 5K race pace, or as if you were finishing the last quarter mile of a race. Focus on running fast but relaxed—hold your form!

— Cool down with 2-3 miles of easy jogging, stretch, refuel.

Read more at

http://running.competitor.com/2014/09/training/workout-week-michigan_114032#Ymc1Acvw5dWsAAc1.99

Positive contribution wrote:

THREAD TITLEwrote:

RE: What is the hardest workout/race you have ever done?

skwilli wrote:

The worst was one time we ran 3 x 1.5 Miles with a 5 mile warm up and a 4 mile warm down. 16.5 miles total. We missed dinner by a full hour that night.

Others will argue this, but it was certainly my worst workout. Heart rate at the top was invariably significantly higher than anyone's maximum should ever be. I had to lie about it or I would have been hospitalized for tachycardia.

Idiot.

Don't steal my handle George.

This winter my son took me to see Flogging Molly after a few beers I decided the "Mosh Pit" was something I wanted to knock off my bucket list. I am in decent shape been running 20 year's work as a laborer. I did like 4-5 five minute sessions in the pit got knocked on my ass a few times. Seriously had to take 2days off from running and my body ached for a week.

The marathon and the track are a pleasant pain compared to the way I felt.

12 mile tempo run on broken foot.

OR

six 1-mile repeats at 5K pace, 1-minute rest between.

How is that hard?

And why do people include their warmup like the difference between a 2 mile or 5 mile wamup makes the workout harder or easier. It's a warmup. You do whatever works for you/ your team to get warmed up properly, but it's not part of the workout.

AM: 10 miles at MP

PM: 6m at ~95%MP + 12x1k at 110%MP

Used to do ~20 mile tempo runs. I would lay on the floor and break out in a weird rash afterwards. Anyone else ever get that?

a couple that stand out in my head:

8 x 1/2 mile uphill with 1/4 mile down recovery. There is a very long uphill railtrail in the area and it worked great to do this workout because after the last repeat you were the perfect distance away to jog back down the hill for the cooldown.

12 miles normal, 10 mile tempo, 2 mile cooldown...typical marathon training workout, but it is never easy.

I'm sure there are much tougher out there, but those are some of the toughest I've logged in my book.

Venser wrote:

Chicago Marathon 2007

I was in twelfth'ish place at 25km. Was holding strong until 30km and just decided to stop running. My coach and I all week talking before the race thought 2:25-2:26 was doable, but we had no clue of the freak weather that was going to roll in on race day.

Most of the smart people either didn't start or dropped out at the half mark (closest spot to the start). I didn't have the cash to hit up another marathon and put all my eggs into that basket. At 30km, I stopped, and walked all the way back to the start line.

That reminds me of the 1993 Chicago Marathon. The temperature was in the high 20s and low 30s with ridiculous wind. During the long run up Lake Shore Drive it was snowing horizontally in my face the entire time. That really really sucked.

32 x minute on, minute off on a track in 105ºF weather. The intervals were supposed to be as fast as we could possibly get them.