Workout of the Day: 6 x 200m
6 x 200m
Intensity — 800m date pace
Recovery — 2 minutes walk/jog after each rep
Level of Exertion — 7/10
Context & Details
This is a classic middle distance workout and is useful for novice to world class athletes. I like this session because it offers the 800m athlete manageable intervals to effectively increase their familiarity and confidence at race speeds. This workout can be performed throughout a season as a go-to race pace session.
The session enhances the athlete’s ability to express high forces upon foot strike over short ground contact times. Remember, high-end speed work is best learned and practiced with relatively low levels of fatigue. Therefore, the recovery periods after each rep starts off generous, usually a 1:4 work-to-rest ratio, so the athlete does not become excessively fatigued at any point in the session.
One of the best ways to progress this workout is to gradually shorten the recovery periods after each rep, provided doing so does not diminish the speed of any subsequent 200m repeat. If the athlete does start to run slower on any 200m rep, then the session is losing its value. When in doubt, allow for more recovery time, so the athlete can return to useful speeds on the remaining repetitions. Appropriate, progressive shortening of the rest periods will result in enhancement of the athlete’s speed-endurance abilities. It makes sense to add more reps when the athlete can easily perform 6 x 200m with a work-to-rest ratio of 1:1/2 without running slower than 800m race pace on any 200m rep. Until that point is reached, resist any temptation to increase workout volume.
6 x 200m is a staple middle distance workout for many coaches because of its specificity, effectiveness, and ease to progress the 800m athlete’s ability to run efficiency at race pace.