Workout of the Day: 4 x 600m + 4 x 300m
4 x 600m + 4 x 300m
Intensity — 600m at 1500m pace, 300m at 800m pace
Recovery — 2 minutes after 600m reps, 3 minutes after 300m reps, 5’ - 7’ between sets
Exertion — 8/10
Context & Details
This workout develops finishing power, or the ability to sustain 800m pace in spite of significant fatigue. It is a potent stimulus for the lactate-threshold augmentation at race-specific speeds for the 800m runner.
The key to this session lies in the rest intervals.
By either shortening the duration of the rest intervals or making them a steady run at marathon speeds, rather than a walk/jog, the stimulus will be increased. Of course, you want to take care not to make the recovery intervals so taxing that the pace on the 600s or 300s significantly slows. Like any workout, the tension between the repetition pace and interval activity/duration is what drives the difficulty of the session.
As I’ve written it, this is session is a good strength-endurance or endurance-speed stimulus for the 800m runner. It can be done once every 10-21 days in the early season and heart of season preparations. Ideally, they’d perform it 4 - 6 times in a season.
The aim is to establish the desired paces for the 600m and 300m reps with as much recovery as needed at first. Then shorten the recovery intervals to 2 minutes and 3 minutes after the 600m and 300m reps, respectively. Initially, it can be walking, light jogging or even standing.
As the runner’s fitness progresses, the recovery intervals become steady jogging or steady easy running. Final visits of this session at the end of the heart of season period hopefully will see the runner being capable of running around marathon pace on the recovery intervals between reps. When this happens, you know your 800m athlete has a robust amount of race-specific stamina to sustain 800m pace and employ a powerful kick in the final 30-20 seconds on race day.