Hi,
What would give an athlete the greater training stimulus when that athlete's focus is an upcoming half marathon in late April ?
Threshold runs ( 2 x 20 mins ) twice weekly increasing to 30-40 mins or reps such as 1 mile x 6 ?
Assume the remainder of the week will consist of the classic long run 15 miles at the weekend, and the rest 8-10 mile easy runs with a complete day off if thought necessary by the athlete.
Thank you.
Those are good workouts. I like 6x 1 mile w/ 3 min. Also working up from 2x2 mile w/ 3 min rest @ half to 3x 2 mile w/ 3 min rest and maybe to 3x 2 mile w/ 2 min rest. Long tempo at aerobic threshold is always a good workout. Just depends on your shape and fitness
Do both workouts. Several weeks before my 50+ HM PR, I did 3 x 2 mile progressive tempos (7:15, 6:55, for example) with 1:30 breaks. I also did 8 x mile at 6:55-7:00 with 1:30 breaks. I averaged 6:57 in the race.
KudzuRunner: I have appreciated your posts for many years. For your 8 x 1 mile workout, how did you spend the 1:30 breaks? Walking, jogging...? Do you recommend doing this workout on a track for accuracy of distance and being able to check pace every 1/2 lap?
Recently I did 9 x 1 mile (lane 2 on the track) at goal pace but with 1/4 mile real slow recovery jogs but I'm always looking for a way to improve the workout.
bump
I've got the trials standard to show some credibility, I'd say you need a mix of both but make sure the workouts are long.
7 or 8 x mile is better than 5 or 6 x mile, 4 or 5 by 2 mile is better than 2 or 3 by 2 mile. Do long fartleks where you're covering 10-12 miles. Ladders of 4 mile 3 mile 2 mile 1 mile instead of small track ladders like 1600, 1200, 800, 400. Occasionally hit up some quicker stuff like 400's or 800's but doesn't need to be very often.
13.1 miles is kind of far, so get used to running pretty hard for longer amounts of time, stretch it out.
3 x 6k @ slightly faster (0:05 min/mile) than HM