Workout of the Day

From left to right: HPW Elite middle distance runners McKayla Fricker, Andrea Keklak and Rebecca Mehra.

3 x 300m, 2 x 200m, 3 x 300m, 2 x 200m, 2 x 100m

Splits: 

300m Set# 1: 51.6, 49.2, 48.3
200m Set# 1: 29.3, 30.0, 28.8
300m Set# 2: 49.2, 48.2, 47.8
200m Set# 2: 30.4, 29.1
100m: 13.4, 13.4

Recovery: 3' rec. between each rep

McKayla Fricker & Rebecca Mehra — April 24th, 2018

Context & Details

I affectionally call this workout "a mess of 300s and 200s." It is geared for the middle distance audience and can benefit the 800m specialist and miler alike. 

This specific session saw McKayla (2:00, 800m best) and Rebecca (4:11, 1500m best) team up. McKayla, the half miler, brought the pure speed and Rebecca, the miler, the true grit. It was a perfect match. McKayla set the tone for the 200s and 100s with Rebecca leading on the 300s.

The 300m reps were asked to be performed in a progressive cutdown manner. The starting point was their ideal current mile speed (51.5"/300m = 4:36 for the mile) and from there the aim was to run slightly faster on each successive 3/4 lap rep. The 200s and final 100s, on the other hand, were simply described as being "good & fast" efforts. I purposely left the directions on those somewhat opaque to see how they decided to run the shorter reps. 

I was curious to see how they interpreted "good & fast."

It was a learning opprtunity for me to watch and see what they produced and, hopefully, an opprtunity for them to run free without worrying about hitting a preordained pace target.

Both McKayla and Rebecca had extended unplanned layoffs from training during the month of March and this session was their first effort at a relative dense amount of intense speeds. That is why I went 50/50 on the pace assignments. I wanted to hold them accountable and give them a concrete starting point for the 300m reps, but then afford them the freedom to express themselves as best they could on the 200s. 

They both ran brilliantly for where they are at in their current comeback trajectories. And both ran much faster than they thought they could throughout the session, affording them the ability to walk away from the workout standing a little taller than before the start, with a well earned increase in confidence.

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