is my coach insane??? 20x200 workout

Ever heard of Lasse Viren?

I've done that workout before at 5k pace, but doing it 800m pace is insane if not impossible, especially before a conference meet.

some kid out in DE wrote:

We have conference meet coming up in a couple of weeks and our coach is wanting us to do a 20x200 workout this thursday. Is this a good speed building workout? I've never had to do so many 200s especially much faster than my mile race pace. Seems like a worthless workout to me.

10 minute warmup

20 minute tempo (no pace, just hard effort but not close to going all out)

20x200 @32s (my mile PR is 4:38) - rest is just jogging across the infield back to the start line and then immediately doing the next 200

10 minute cooldown

I’ve done something similar a long time ago. 32 x 200m with a 1:00 standing rest, 400m jog every 8. I remember :31-33. I ran 4:28/9:32 that season.

Alan

It's a great workout but you should probably be doing them at 34s, with a full 200 jogging recovery...not to mention a 20 minute tempo is a workout on its own so I'm not sure why you're doing two workouts on the same day.

Good workout. We did them then added the bonus round . Who was gonna puke !

That's a very good workout. Coach knows his stuff. Focus on form during the 200s. If you are a very speedy FT runner, break them up in sets like 3x7x200 or 2x10x200.

32s seems right pace, unless you are extremely ST/no natural speed. This workout shouldn't be or feel hard. Hold back during the tempo if anything (do it at MP instead of threshold), but make sure the 200s are nice, cruising 200s with focus on form (relaxed shoulders, arms, back, basically just cruising, no push/straining).

That is a very reasonable workout. I'm an old man that runs 4:45 for the mile and did this workout last year. As a kid with a faster mile time you should have no trouble doing or recovering from that workout.

16x200

Type Distance Duration Elapsed Time Pace Notes

1 Interval 200 m 0:34 0:34 4:34

2 Interval 200 m 0:35 1:09 4:42

3 Interval 200 m 0:34 1:43 4:34

4 Interval 200 m 0:35 2:18 4:42

5 Interval 200 m 0:35 2:53 4:42

6 Interval 200 m 0:34 3:27 4:34

7 Interval 200 m 0:34 4:01 4:34

8 Interval 200 m 0:34 4:35 4:34

9 Interval 200 m 0:33 5:08 4:26

10 Interval 200 m 0:35 5:43 4:42

11 Interval 200 m 0:33 6:16 4:26

12 Interval 200 m 0:33 6:49 4:26

13 Interval 200 m 0:34 7:23 4:34

14 Interval 200 m 0:36 7:59 4:50

15 Interval 200 m 0:33 8:32 4:26

16 Interval 200 m 0:32 9:04 4:18

Trust your coach. We did that workout once a week back in the day and it wasn’t even a primary workout. Rest got cut down from 1 min at start to 15 sec for last 5. 32 is about the right pace for your mile time.

That workout if done at mile pace (34-35) instead should be pretty easy. It may be a bit challenging going 2-3s faster but not impossible. I'd recommend just really getting the most out of those recovery jogs - and along those lines, make sure that early in the workout you're not rushing the rest. If you can stretch it to 1:30 or so you should be good but if you're hopping over and starting after 50 seconds or so you're gonna have a bad time.

It's a perfectly fine workout

- Fellow Delawarean

What’s so bad about doing 2000m worth of work at your 20 secs faster than mile pace? Sounds like a good conditioning workout to me. I don’t agree with doing it straight after a tempo run, I’m sure that would have a negative impact on your form on the second half of the 200s. If you had a 20 minute rest between the two workouts I would say it is a decent hard day although it would be more optimal to do the, both on seperate days as you are training two different energy systems.

One of Ron Clarke's favorite workouts was 20 laps of sprinting the straightaways and jogging the turns. Sounds pretty similar.

some kid out in DE wrote:

We have conference meet coming up in a couple of weeks and our coach is wanting us to do a 20x200 workout this thursday. Is this a good speed building workout? I've never had to do so many 200s especially much faster than my mile race pace. Seems like a worthless workout to me.

10 minute warmup

20 minute tempo (no pace, just hard effort but not close to going all out)

20x200 @32s (my mile PR is 4:38) - rest is just jogging across the infield back to the start line and then immediately doing the next 200

10 minute cooldown

It'll be easier than you think. You won't feel it until the 12th rep. By then you'll be in the finishing stretch. Be patient with the pace. You will likely run the first one in 29-30 because it'll feel good and then you'll want to back off. It will feel like a jog.

We did this in early 1966 except it was 24 of them, with jogs straight across the field and right into the next one.

People were trying to hang on and were gradually dropping off one by one.

Our champion broke the national junior college record later that year with 3:56, and still holds it to this day..

Yes this workout is mentally demanding after #12 or so, but physically won't be that bad unless you misinterpret "jog." Do NOT attempt to get back to the line in easy run pace (e.g. 1 minute). Take the ~1:30 or so, and don't run 30-31 the first 3 or 4. You'll make it through at least 12 without too much trouble, unless you have bad speed.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Do NOT attempt to get back to the line in easy run pace (e.g. 1 minute). Take the ~1:30 or so

Wrong, wrong, totally wrong. This is a workout for the mile, not a workout of sprints.

You finish each one, turn and jog straight across the field, and directly into the next one each time.

There's no reason to rush across, but certainly keep going, don't goof around or stop and waste time either.

I disagree. If he were doing the workout for the mile he’d do 10 400s at 1600m pace with 200m jog rest. I’m not saying eff around but a jog unless you want to be hitting 35-36 after 6 reps

Totally wrong`, wrote:

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Do NOT attempt to get back to the line in easy run pace (e.g. 1 minute). Take the ~1:30 or so

Wrong, wrong, totally wrong. This is a workout for the mile, not a workout of sprints.

You finish each one, turn and jog straight across the field, and directly into the next one each time.

There's no reason to rush across, but certainly keep going, don't goof around or stop and waste time either.

Noting I screwed up my math here though...1 minute would be good, do not go at easy run pace though and do one every 45 seconds

We did 20x400.