3xMile, Full Recovery: why would my coach assign this?

Prefontaine did something similar to the workout done by the OP, according to Frank Horwill:

"The recovery time after repetitions at 5km pace is a crucial factor. A good rule-of-thumb guide is to jog one-eighth the distance of the repetition. In 1972 I watched Steve Prefontaine (USA) in the Olympic village do 3 x 1 mile in 4:08 (12:56 / 5km) with 15 minutes rest after each. Many onlookers thought this was a sensational session and tipped him for the gold medal. However, we do not have 15 minutes rest after the first mile of a 5km race. It would have been better if he had done 3 x 1 mile in 4:16 with 200m jog recovery. He finished fourth in the final in a time of 13:28 (64.5/400m)."

More here:

http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/advice_frank25.html

By the way, I think most of the stuff Horwill recommended was much too hard.

To the poster who wondered "In what world is VO2 max pace = 2 mile race pace?" in Billat's world, it's 6 minute race pace. In Tinman's world, it's 7 minute race pace. In Jack Daniels's world, it's around 11 minute race pace, but I think he makes his pace charts for what he calls "Interval Pace" something like 98% of vVO2max, which is about 5k pace for some runners .

Remember a few weeks ago you posted the same question except it was 3x600?

Same damn thing except longer.

Straight from Daniels: "5 min max; 1:1 W/R"

Glad to see people have my back on this. I am all for short recoveries but more toward 10k pace & up. I think sometimes getting more recovery to maintain speed & high effort have value. That... And it's textbook Daniels. As for the try to break 5 on all three I agree, who knows where they're at. But I did it in HS and my top varsity guys do now.

Macdaddy wrote:

Straight from Daniels: "5 min max; 1:1 W/R"

saltdog wrote:

grain of salt optional wrote:

1:1 is too much for recovery with VO2max mile reps. 3:00-4:00 should be PLENTY. Literally by 5:00 you will be fully recovered, and the first minute of the next rep isn't going to have the impact it should.

This is incorrect. 1:1 recovery is what is necessary to achieve vO2 max pace if you are doing consecutive repeats.

No.

2:00 for 800s.

2:30 for 1000s.

3:30 for 1600s.

If you need equal rest to hit 3xMile on race pace, you have a horrible base.

seeing patterns wrote:

Remember a few weeks ago you posted the same question except it was 3x600?

Same damn thing except longer.

I guess he is afraid to ask his coach a question.

SlowFatMaster wrote:

To the poster who wondered "In what world is VO2 max pace = 2 mile race pace?" in Billat's world, it's 6 minute race pace. In Tinman's world, it's 7 minute race pace. In Jack Daniels's world, it's around 11 minute race pace, but I think he makes his pace charts for what he calls "Interval Pace" something like 98% of vVO2max, which is about 5k pace for some runners .

Ah. My mistake. I'm following the Daniels charts.

grain of salt optional wrote:

saltdog wrote:

This is incorrect. 1:1 recovery is what is necessary to achieve vO2 max pace if you are doing consecutive repeats.

No.

2:00 for 800s.

2:30 for 1000s.

3:30 for 1600s.

If you need equal rest to hit 3xMile on race pace, you have a horrible base.

Why are these the correct recovery times???

Be a tough guy and just jog a lap and get back on it... what's this equal time rest nonsense???

A hr below 120bpm is usually at a point of full recovery.

Ryry wrote:

A hr below 120bpm is usually at a point of full recovery.

Exactly.

And if it takes you five minutes to get there after a mile on 5k race pace, you are horribly conditioned.

I've found that 3min rest at 5k pace is good enough. Tough workout, but it can be done as long as the progression is there.

If you're working on support speed, do lower volume faster.

Long rests are more for capacity than fitness imo.