Is 20 x 100m with walk back (approx 1 min rest) a good anaerobic capacity building workout?

Steve Scott and Said Aouita used too do stuff similar on a hill.

Wow, my legs are sore today.

Lower 400 speed while maintaining base wrote:

Assuming all reps were at 95% effort (100m PR + 1-1.5s) and you were doing some other form of intervals (say 400s or hill sprints with long rest) on another day of the week, would this sort of work out be a good choice to add into a 10 day cycle for a middle distance person trying to get lower times across the spectrum? I want to drop a couple of seconds from my 400 without exclusively training for that event (which would be a waste of time because I’m a MD runner - not a sprinter).

When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. I think the workout has value, but I think the number of reps is way too many given the effort.

Perhaps?!?!?!? wrote:

Steve Scott and Said Aouita used too do stuff similar on a hill.

That's hill reps and not the same.

I don't rate the session

NotPC wrote:

Lower 400 speed while maintaining base wrote:

Assuming all reps were at 95% effort (100m PR + 1-1.5s) and you were doing some other form of intervals (say 400s or hill sprints with long rest) on another day of the week, would this sort of work out be a good choice to add into a 10 day cycle for a middle distance person trying to get lower times across the spectrum? I want to drop a couple of seconds from my 400 without exclusively training for that event (which would be a waste of time because I’m a MD runner - not a sprinter).

When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. I think the workout has value, but I think the number of reps is way too many given the effort.

Idk, the op said 95% effort then said 1-1.5 seconds slower than all out 100m ability. Sounds more like 85-90% effort, but whatever. I think at my peak shape I could have run a little under 12 for a FAT 100m out of blocks, probably like 12.2 or so right now, and I think I could run 13-13.5 100m reps all day long.

The point/aim of my workout was to practice 400m goal pace.

During races, it never seems to be my lungs OR my legs that limit me but neurological fatigue, another aim of my workout was to train my nervous system to run at those paces.

Not a fan of the workout. I think some form of 300s would be much better for this purpose.

Sounds like it could be helpful, OP, though that would be a pretty brisk walk back between reps. [And yeah, I bet you *were* sore after the first session of that!]

If you really want to get your 400 (and 800) time down, I'd add in variable speed repetitions somewhere. Research has shown that those are the best for improving speed endurance, and the most productive reps are those comprising several speed changes. Plenty of ways to do those: 250s at sprint 50-float 50-sprint 50-float 50-sprint 50, say, or 200s at stride 25-sprint 25-jog 25-stride 25-sprint 25-jog 25-stride 25-sprint 25 . . . that kind of thing. Good rests between reps.