What to do after stopping in the middle of a workout?

Some days you have bad workouts, so what?

But what am I supposed to do now? Should I do the whole 12x800 repeats again from scratch?

Because my race is in 2 weeks and I really wanna be ready and race well

helpmepleasee wrote:

But what am I supposed to do now? Should I do the whole 12x800 repeats again from scratch?

Because my race is in 2 weeks and I really wanna be ready and race well

Train, don't strain. Listen to this:

That sounds like a terrible workout. Assuming you're a 16:42 5K runner and those 800s were at 5K pace, your rests were way too short and you were attempting to do way too many. A general guideline for 5K pace is equal time rests, so you needed 2-3 times as much rest as you were taking. And 12 x 800 is about twice as much volume at 5K pace as all but a few elites are running. If you're a 16:42 5K runner, you should have been doing 6-8 x 800 with 2:30-3:00 rests. You're lucky the worst thing that happened was getting tired.

Do not attempt to finish the workout. Do not attempt to repeat this workout.

Do you dwell on turds in the toilet? Flush it down and never think about it again.

Pack it up bud your season is over

the astonishing thing about this is that last week you ran 7 x 800m and you somehow think that a progression to 12 x 800m makes sense.

hint: it does not.

one interesting alternative not covered by other posters is that you are a 14:10 5000m guy and 2:40 represents 85% race pace for you, which is why you had such a short recovery. in that case 8 x 800m off a 1:00 recovery would make a lot of sense, but your frantic plea, "my race is in 2 weeks and I really wanna be ready and race well," suggests you are not that 14:10 guy at all.

maybe the real message here is that folk can't help you unless you give them all the relevant information.

cheers.

It continues to amaze me that so many runners have very little understanding of training. Daniels Running Formula is $16.65 on Amazon. Buy it. Study it. You don't really have to read it all. Just get a basic understanding of intervals as a part of your training.

Intervals have four primary variables: distance, pace, recovery time, and volume. Other factors are recovery from previous workout, illness, injuries, weather, and so on.

When you bonk in a workout, you've probably messed up on one (or more) of the first four.

In my opinion, you should not attempt to repeat the workout.

cotton shirt wrote:

the astonishing thing about this is that last week you ran 7 x 800m and you somehow think that a progression to 12 x 800m makes sense.

hint: it does not.

one interesting alternative not covered by other posters is that you are a 14:10 5000m guy and 2:40 represents 85% race pace for you, which is why you had such a short recovery. in that case 8 x 800m off a 1:00 recovery would make a lot of sense, but your frantic plea, "my race is in 2 weeks and I really wanna be ready and race well," suggests you are not that 14:10 guy at all.

maybe the real message here is that folk can't help you unless you give them all the relevant information.

cheers.

Where did you get 14.10 from?

my 2c wrote:

That sounds like a terrible workout. Assuming you're a 16:42 5K runner and those 800s were at 5K pace, your rests were way too short and you were attempting to do way too many. A general guideline for 5K pace is equal time rests, so you needed 2-3 times as much rest as you were taking. And 12 x 800 is about twice as much volume at 5K pace as all but a few elites are running. If you're a 16:42 5K runner, you should have been doing 6-8 x 800 with 2:30-3:00 rests. You're lucky the worst thing that happened was getting tired.

Do not attempt to finish the workout. Do not attempt to repeat this workout.

Yes 12 reps is too many, but for a 16.40 hopeful 2.40s with one minute rest is about right.

Just not 12 of them, maybe 8?

best thing after a bad workout is to punish yourself with deadlifts.

umm what?? said: Where did you get 14.10 from?

an earlier poster, my 2c, guessed that OP was a 16:42 guy, and this is obviously based on the assumption that 2:40 for 800m is OP's race pace.

however, long intervals with very short recoveries are not normally run at race pace. it is much more common for them to be run at 80% - 85% race pace.

therefore, IF (a big if, admittedly) but if 2:40 is 85% race pace then race pace is 2:16 which would make him a 14:10 guy.

I did actually explain this in my post, which you obviously didn't read...

is that you are a 14:10 5000m guy and 2:40 represents 85% race pace for you

cheers.

Cotton shirt shut up and read my posts. Yer talking nonsense again.

cheers

I'm a 18 minute 5k runner.

I wanted to build on the lactate so that's why I ran with 1 minute breaks.

Can I complete them today?

umm what?? said: Cotton shirt shut up and read my posts. Yer talking nonsense again.

I did read your post. specifically, you asked where I got 14:10 from. so I explained where I got 14:10 from.

in your other post, also in reply to a post from my 2c, you say, "for a 16.40 hopeful 2.40s with one minute rest is about right."

there are two things wrong with this.

1. you have no way of knowing whether OP is a 16:40 hopeful because he has said NOTHING about his pr for 5000m. the figure of 16:40 comes from my 2c's complete guess.

2. if he were a 16:40 runner, then 2:40 would be his race pace, and, as I already said, for a 5000m runner to be running race pace sessions over 800m off a short recovery such as 1 minute is quite unusual. not impossible, I'm not saying that no one ever does it, but since OP gives us essentially no information about what level he is at, I personally think that the assumption that 2:40 is his race pace is unsafe. and I think it worth noting that this specific session would require OP to run 5600m at his 5000m race pace, which I think is unlikely, to say the least.

you can disagree with this if you want, but it is not nonsense. it is perfectly sound, physiologically accurate and logically correct.

but I also note that in your post you suggest that he could do more, that he could in fact do 8 x 800m = 6400m at his 5000m race pace which I think is plainly absurd.

cheers.

Helpmepleasee wrote:

I'm a 18 minute 5k runner.

I wanted to build on the lactate so that's why I ran with 1 minute breaks.

Can I complete them today?

No.

You should do less of them and slow down a bit.

Helpmepleasee wrote: Can I complete them today?

no.

forget the session. it has passed. it is now history.

you have done today's training.

in future, when you run this session, run the 800m's in 3:05, off a 1:00 recovery and you will be fine. stick with 7 repeats. there is no need to do more than that.

after a couple of weeks of that, lengthen them a little and run 4 x 1000m at the same pace, 1000m in 3:50 and start with a 90s recovery but bring it down over time until you again get to 1:00.

cheers.

[quote]my 2c wrote:

That sounds like a terrible workout. Assuming you're a 16:42 5K runner and those 800s were at 5K pace, your rests were way too short and you were attempting to do way too many. A general guideline for 5K pace is equal time rests, so you needed 2-3 times as much rest as you were taking. And 12 x 800 is about twice as much volume at 5K pace as all but a few elites are running. If you're a 16:42 5K runner, you should have been doing 6-8 x 800 with 2:30-3:00 rests. You're lucky the worst thing that happened was getting tired.

Do not attempt to finish the workout. Do not attempt to repeat this workout.

Agree with this poster. No clue what your workout was trying to accomplish.

Helpmepleasee wrote:

I'm a 18 minute 5k runner.

I wanted to build on the lactate so that's why I ran with 1 minute breaks.

Can I complete them today?

No. The workout you attempted was 12 x 800 at your 3000/3200 pace with short rests. Daniels's R pace, if you you're a Daniels guy. As cotton shirt explained, there are some people for whom your workout would make sense, but you are not one of them.

My assumption - based on what and how you write, and the kind of workout you attempted - is that you're a high school runner or similarly inexperienced. I'd guess you made it through last week's 7 x 800 workout with a race-like effort. You crashed in this latest attempt because you hadn't fully recovered from last week's workout. You felt good up through 4 x 800 because that is actually a workout at 3000/3200 pace that makes sense for you. Or if you're training for a 5K, take cotton shirt's advice.

Do not try to finish or repeat the workout. It was a stupid idea to begin with.