Workout of the Day

6 x 1,000m

Splits: 2:57, 2:58, 2:58, 3:00, 2:59, 2:57

Recovery: 3 minutes jog

Andrew Wheating — Oct. 22nd, 2007

Context & Details

Yes, it is true, Andrew Wheating ran cross country.

In fact, he was a scoring member in 2007 on the Ducks Pac-10 team championships squad. 

This workout was the Monday proceeding that Pac-10 XC Championships meet. Wheating would run the 8K XC race in 23:26 for 14th overall and contribute to a Ducks victory.

In the morning before this 6 x 1K session, which was labeled in his training log as "VO2 MAX INTERVALS," he jogged an easy 30 minutes. This is a rare double for him. That week of Pac-10s Wheating covered 51.5 miles in training, on the higher side of weekly total mileage for Wheating during his college career.

Consider this, the weeks leading up to this workout were some of his highest mileage ever while in college. He totaled 59, 64, 60 miles per week. Wheating competed well in cross country in the fall of 2007 and then made the Olympic team in the 800m, running 1:45.03, in July of 2008. High mileage is a relative term, but this provokes thought on fall 800m training design. This path worked well for Wheating. And eight years later a similar path worked out for Clayton Murphy, who also ran cross country at a national class level in the fall of 2015, and then won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in the 800m.

Maybe there is something to 800m men running XC in the fall after all... 

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