Workout of the Day: 3 Miles, 2 Miles, 1 Mile, 800m
3 Miles, 2 Miles, 1 Mile, 800m
Intensity — 2 Miles @ 15K pace | 2 Mile reps @ 10K pace | 1 Mile @ 5K pace | 800m @ 3K pace
Recovery — 3-5 minutes walk/jog after each rep
Exertion — 8/10
Context & Details
This is one of my favorite workouts for the 10,000m/5,000m runner.
It advances several key performance variables: running economy, lactate-threshold velocity, resistance to fatigue, and vVO2 Max.
Cutdown sessions like this are highly effective because they expose runners to very realistic physiological and psychological demands of their event in a practice setting.
The 3 Miles at 15K are simply to set up increased lactate production in the body. The 2 Miles at 10K pace are to improve lactate-threshold velocity. The 1 Mile at 5K pace continues to advance lactate-threshold velocity and improves running economy and resistance to fatigue. The 800m at 3K further boosts all the previous variable as well as vVO2 Max.
This is a high intensity, density, and volume session. It’s best done with 2-3 days of low-to-light intensity training leading into it and 2-3 days of low-to-light intensity training afterwards. The relative intensity level of the session is akin to a fast road or track 10,000m race.
Because of the high demand it places on the runner, its best done every 2-3 weeks during early season training cycles. Typically, I’ll have 10K/5K types I coach perform it about 2-4 times during a season.
Runners not ready for 6.5 miles of workout volume, can scale down the rep distances to 3K, 2K, 1K, and 400m but still keeping the 3-5 minute recovery periods between reps.