21 x 400m
21 x 400m
Designed for 26.2 runners
Intensity
20 x 400m @ 3K EFFORT
Final 400m @ A.U.G. (All You Got)
Recovery
400m jogging in 2.5’ - 3’
Exertion
8/10
Periodization
General Period
Context & Details
A marathoner runner I’m currently coaching told me, “General Period’s workouts are always so fun — there’s no pressure!”
Exactly.
The purpose of the General Period is to develop qualities that will generally support a runner’s development in subsequent periods.
For Marathon runners, one of those qualities is 3K pace.
3K pace is a potent driver of many metabolic and neurological adaptations in long-distance runners. And marathon runners I coach get a healthy exposure to it early in their training program.
Here’s why:
What makes marathon training so tough is the duration of workouts in the Specific Period. Long, hard workouts carry a high mechanical tax. Oftentimes, marathon runners are fully recovered metabolically from workouts far before they are mechanically recovered. One way to better align these rates of recovery is to perform mechanical resilient workouts early in training when running volume is lowest.
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And it’s another reason why my #1 rule for training runners is: Run Fast First, Run Long Later.
This contradicts the popular — and misguided — LSD (Long Slow Distance) training model which encourages injury by telling runners to perform long, slow runs with faulty running mechanics.
In order to produce more power, and run faster, your body has to be exposed to more powerful positions (also called Postures). Without an education about how to do this, your propensity to injury increases and why an estimated 79% of runners annually are forced to miss training due to injury.
One skill-specific way to foster an education of better running (posture) positions is to practice running fast. This encourages the body to self-organize in a way that can meet the demand you’re asking of it. It’s a simple and effective strategy but underemployed by many marathoners who favor the misguided LSD approach of running more slow miles in hopes of improving fitness. There’s a time and place for more running volume, but it’s not in the early training periods.
In the General Period, all running is based on EFFORT. What matters is the body working hard. Pace doesn’t matter. This is why my marathon runner enjoys General Period workouts so much. There’s no pressure from the watch.
As one of my mentors, Peter J. Thompson, likes to say, “the purpose of the runner’s watch is to record — not direct.”
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Continue Learning
3 Good Books on Marathon training
Advanced Marathoning by Peter Pfitzinger
From Last to First by Charlie Spedding
Endurance Training: Science and Practice edited by Iñigo Mujika