What are some of the toughest workouts that you somehow finished?

I can’t think of any specific ones. I’ve had a lot that o was able to pull through. By the time I get to half way I just tell myself to stop being a pu$$y and usually remember that people are watching me flame out.

For me, any workout that gets you working above your anerobic threshold hurts. Different ways to get there, but long repeats with short rest periods hurt me the most. So for example, 3x2 mile repeats at 5k pace with 90 second active rest intervals hurts. First one is ok. Second one sucks. Third one is pretty hellish.

3 miles tempo + 4x200

Hardest sessions I can remember have been 8 x 2000 @ target HM pace with 400 m jog rest, plus long w/u and c/d

thursday last week:

10min E, 3 x (600m @ mile pace, 30s rest, 200m @ 800 pace, 7min E), 20min E

The pain came during the last 20min jog, when I thought it was over.

Not looking forward to the other workouts in this phase:

like 4x 400m @ 800m pace/400m jog + 4x 400m @mile pace/400m jog

or 3x 600m @ 800m pace with 1k jog (can't see myself do that yet, but who knows!)

jack daniels 800m phase III wrote:3x 600m @ 800m pace with 1k jog (can't see myself do that yet, but who knows!)

This is not a possible workout, at least not at honest (current fitness) 800m race pace. 1 x 600 at 800m race pace is a great TT race-pace indicator. Trying to do three in a row is nonsense.

Now if the pace is somewhat slower than 800 pace, like 1000 to 1500 race pace, that's a whole other story.

my experience wrote:

jack daniels 800m phase III wrote:3x 600m @ 800m pace with 1k jog (can't see myself do that yet, but who knows!)

This is not a possible workout, at least not at honest (current fitness) 800m race pace. 1 x 600 at 800m race pace is a great TT race-pace indicator. Trying to do three in a row is nonsense.

Now if the pace is somewhat slower than 800 pace, like 1000 to 1500 race pace, that's a whole other story.

yup. seems pretty terrible. ive had kids pull off 4x500, but with full rest. 15 minutes. even that 4x400 with @800 pace with 400m jog break seems terrible.

Maybe something that works for an endurance monster who doesn't have any real speed, but seems too brutal otherwise.

high school xc coach wrote:

yup. seems pretty terrible. ive had kids pull off 4x500, but with full rest. 15 minutes. even that 4x400 with @800 pace with 400m jog break seems terrible.

Maybe something that works for an endurance monster who doesn't have any real speed, but seems too brutal otherwise.

Funny thing is, it's in the low-mileage chapter (20-30 miles/week).

I don't know, maybe they're too hard but I'll give them a shot. I can always break them up in shorter/more reps.

20 miles on the treadmill.

When I was training for a 50 miler I was set on doing a 50k training run (I had been doing a good amount of 22-26 mile long runs but 50k seemed daunting). I woke up and the weather was horrible so I did about 31 miles on the treadmill that day. After about 12 miles I do not really remember the rest of the workout.

That workout seems like more of a race effort. I think 10k pace would be hard much less 5k pace.

Sixty minutes of ~3min strong, ~3min steady--so no actual easier running at any point. Sat on a bench in the locker room for about an hour afterward, too beaten to move.

And my first 2 1/2 hour training run was hard, though I'd done multiple two-hour runs without a problem. The last mile or so I was checking my watch every minute or less, and at 2:30:00 I stopped--though I was probably only ~300m from home.

anaerobic threshold hurts wrote:... for example, 3x2 mile repeats at 5k pace with 90 second active rest intervals hurts. First one is ok. Second one sucks. Third one is pretty hellish.

This is another made up workout. 1 x 2 miles at 5k pace is, again, a solid TT, decent 5k race pace indicator, a near all-out training run, hard to do once in training. Three back to back, particularly with 90 s active rest, is impossible at 5k pace. I can see building up to doing that session at ~ 10k pace. It has never been done at legitimate 5k race fitness. Prove me wrong!

Enjoy the following

My first workout in college was brutal. After a warmup we were instructed to run 5 x 1mile repeats with a 2 minute rest in between. Once finished we were then told the second phase of this workout would be 20 x 440s with a 110 walk rest. I learned how to walk incredibly slow that day. Convinced we were done and only a cool down left, we were shocked when told the third phase of the workout was 5 x 880 repeats with a 1 minute rest. The new personal goal that day was survival. We finished the third phase to only be told we were now to complete 12x220s with 110 walk rest. At this stage, I began to notice that several runners had disappeared. Well the final stage finally arrived and we finished with a 2mile run on the watch.

Years later, I was talking about this crazy first day workout with a veteran cross country coach. He nearly busted a gut laughing, he knew that workout. In fact he wrote that workout for the new coach at my college. But it was misread by that new coach. It was written as some samples of potential workouts, not as one workout.

Disney Marathon.

Took me 6:58 including riding the rides and stopping for pictures with Disney characters.

Hardest workout/race of my life.

But I earned that 26.2 sticker!

Freshman walkon in college. We ran four miles to the workout site, and then ran mile repeats with a minute rest between them. I don't recall the number we did, but since I was a freshman walkon, I fell behind early on, ans my minute of rest got shorter and shorter until there was no rest. I finished it, but realized I was not going to make this team.

Dude took you through a whole season of workouts in one day.

anaerobic threshold hurts wrote:

For me, any workout that gets you working above your anerobic threshold hurts. Different ways to get there, but long repeats with short rest periods hurt me the most. So for example, 3x2 mile repeats at 5k pace with 90 second active rest intervals hurts. First one is ok. Second one sucks. Third one is pretty hellish.

Respectfully, I have a kinda hard time believing this workout.

This would be a total of nearly 10k at 5k RACE PACE only broken up with two 90 second periods of jogging recovery.

I think completing this means you're a little off with your 5k race pace estimate or you're slowing down A LOT during the last repeat.

I'm curious to hear what your 5k time right now is and if you're really doing the workout at that pace. Thanks

semi_pro wrote:

anaerobic threshold hurts wrote:

For me, any workout that gets you working above your anerobic threshold hurts. Different ways to get there, but long repeats with short rest periods hurt me the most. So for example, 3x2 mile repeats at 5k pace with 90 second active rest intervals hurts. First one is ok. Second one sucks. Third one is pretty hellish.

Respectfully, I have a kinda hard time believing this workout.

This would be a total of nearly 10k at 5k RACE PACE only broken up with two 90 second periods of jogging recovery.

I think completing this means you're a little off with your 5k race pace estimate or you're slowing down A LOT during the last repeat.

I'm curious to hear what your 5k time right now is and if you're really doing the workout at that pace. Thanks

Had the same thought. I think even with 3-4 minute rest you would not be able to hit the last 2 miles at true 5k pace. I think this person is a lot fitter than there 5k pace if they could knock this out. You could do this workout at 10k pace but I think 90 seconds is still a short rest.