4xmile workout

We do a weekly track workout of 5 x 1 mile in around 4.50 with 2 min recovery and find that tough enough but vital to improve speed and stamina for xc racing. 15 mins increased steady warm up and down with few strides at end.

What about this one? 2:30 rest on each one (average)

5:03

5:05

5:02

4:58

Not all out by any means, but not easy either.

Do the repliers on here take active rests or just chill and get ready for the next interval?

Well for me I took active rest, jogging around to my water, then around the infield. No set distance or time, but just to keep my legs active and moving.

worder of reads wrote:

you don't get to rest during a race, why would taking more then a few minutes of rest help simulate the race or stimulate new fitness?

Not everything is about simulating a race. And it def does stimulates new fitness in a different way then short rest.

There are clear benefits to short and long rest, and the right time to do both under the same or different training programs.

alangrice, what do you guys typically run for 8k?

I did a similar workout in high school and ran low 15s. A teammate of mine ran the workout with me and could never break 16:30. It all depends on what kind of racer you are and how hard you were going in your workout.

jim halpert wrote:

4:55

4:52

4:48

4:45

4:40

4:30

all with 3 min rest

10,000 time of 30:20 give or take 5 seconds.

No, I think that's a 29 flat 10k runner. The drop to 4:30 on the last. Kilburg (low 28) would do a similar workout in 4:40 something this year. Not sure on the rests.

If that's a 30-flat or under guy, props to him for running the workout for the purpose of improving and not just to run as hard as possible. The huge negative splits show that he did it right, but it still might have been too hard. My college team had about 8 guys who could run 5 x 1,600 with 3 minutes rest within 2 seconds of this guy's last 5 reps (including the 4:30-ish at the end) and most of us ran around 30:20 to 30:35. But I could tell we (me included) were running just a little too hard the whole time. We had one 29:37 guy who wasn't a workout king but ran the 1,600s with everybody else and then brought it to a different level on race day. Plus, we did that workout in spikes and ran together as a team. If this guy did his in trainers by himself and stayed controlled, he could very well be way under 30 minutes in a race.

good points. hard to tell from a workout time whether the guy was near all-out. (I think that kilburg did 10 repeats). but the 4:30 seemed to suggest that he had plenty left. we had a 30:48 guy this year who tends to run in the 4:40s for 3xmile, I think.

I once did 3 x 1600 in 4:56 - 4:56 - 4:56 (all 3 of them) with one lap (400) jog and did not break 16:00 for 5K or 33:30 for 10K. So a workout may indicate fitness for one person but not necessarily another.

Just thinking of mile repeats with 2min rest makes me want to barf.

It's great to see a post about running on this site!

what>?1 wrote:

worder of reads wrote:

you don't get to rest during a race, why would taking more then a few minutes of rest help simulate the race or stimulate new fitness?

Tell that to Canova. He has his athletes have 6min rests on some of their longer repeats at pace.

that is technically true but he has them do it during the base phase when the idea is to work on keeping race pace work as aerobic as possible or when its done during the specific phase its because he is having them do crazy long efforts at pace ie 1 mile or 2k at 3k race pace or 3k at 5k race pace. In other words they are doing like a max time trial then taking 6 min rest and either trying it again or moving to shorter repeats with less rest. so it say this kid was trying to run a 10:20 two mile then those rests might line up with a canova workout or if this kid was trying to run a 20:40 four mile but this workout was from early in his base phase then again it might line up. But from mid xc, no not at all like what canova does.

highschoolrun wrote:

Well, I am a high schooler so I don't decide my workouts. Can someone give a detailed explanation on why long rests are bad, so I can talk to my coach about it. He insists on relative long rests for most all the workouts we do.

If the goal of the workout is spend time at max VO2, then the 8 min rest interval is too long. The rest does not need to be over 3-4 minutes if you runs are at race pace for 5k. If you are running @ 16:00 for a 5k on the track, you can do 5:08 miles (approx race pace) with 3-4 minutes active recovery.

highschoolrun wrote:

8 min rest each mile. I wish I was good enough to do the workout with 2min rest for each rep.

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aaaah ignorance is bliss. It sounds like your coach knows very little, and not much more than you. 8 mins is something he probably read in a an article. You should not worry about the times right away. The goal in this workout is to do 4 miles strong throughout with a short jog/recover between. Usually, 400m is the max, and 20m, for college runners. The times will come down, it's a more effective workout with a shorter recovery for obvious reasons.

You are getting ready to run hard when you are tired, not recovered. That's what true racing is. Running when recovered is called "sprinting".

RI runner wrote:

highschoolrun wrote:

8 min rest each mile. I wish I was good enough to do the workout with 2min rest for each rep.

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aaaah ignorance is bliss. It sounds like your coach knows very little, and not much more than you. 8 mins is something he probably read in a an article. You should not worry about the times right away. The goal in this workout is to do 4 miles strong throughout with a short jog/recover between. Usually, 400m is the max, and 20m, for college runners. The times will come down, it's a more effective workout with a shorter recovery for obvious reasons.

You are getting ready to run hard when you are tired, not recovered. That's what true racing is. Running when recovered is called "sprinting".

8 minutes of rest is too much, but mile repeats with full recovery is not "sprinting".