Workout of the Day

photo: Paul Merca.

photo: Paul Merca.

2 x (2 x 800m, 5 x 300m) + 2 x 800m  

Splits:  

Set #1 — 2:27, 2:28, 54, 54, 55, 52, 54
Set #2 — 2:27, 2:26, 51, 52, 52, 54, 51
Set #3 — 2:27, 2:24

Recovery: 400m jog after each 800m rep and between sets. 100m jog after each 300m rep.

Tara Welling — June 4th, 2016

 

Context & Details

At the time of this workout the Olympic Trials was on a roughly 30 day horizon and Tara was heading into a racing block to ready for it. On her schedule she had a 1500m and 1 - 2 x 5,000m races lined up in less than 14 day period. I've always trained athletes to be ready to undergo racing blocks of 2 - 3 weeks before their anchor event as nothing better prepares an athlete in the final phases of their training than racing. I've tried it the other way, zero or minimal racing before their target race and it has never gone well. 

For Tara specifically, this period is the culmination of 6 months of focused effort, with many races sacrificed in February and April in favor of focused training. And with a month before the Trials, the crucible of racing was the best sharpening stone available. Plus, she prefers racing over working out, so such a philosophy compliments her natural disposition nicely.  

The 800m reps were at roughly 5K pace and the 300m reps at ballpark 1500m speeds. This was a moderate session, not designed to sting, but be solid. You could call it a consolidation workout to reinforce the familiarity at those race tempos. And that was the main aim. With 30 days before the Olympic Trials, no more fitness could be amassed without too high a risk of compromise. So I deemed it best to have her final workouts emphasize solidification of the speeds of competition which she would soon be subject to.

 

Any questions? I'm happy to answer. You can send me a Direct Message on Twitter or email me at jmarcus.hpw@gmail.com
Thx //  jm

Jonathan J. Marcus