What do you think of the following for a minute based program designed for racing distances of 5k to 15k
3 Day training pattern:
Day 1: Quality Workout
Day 2: Recovery run of .75x
Day 3: Easy run of 1x
x = base time period
Quality workouts would be one of the following 6 options (the mixture depending on the time of year and upcoming race distances):
1) Steady state long run of 1.5x
2) Sub-Threshold workout totaling .75x
This would be a tempo run of 75% of base time or repeats of 15 mins (totaling 75% of base time) with 20% recovery jog between them. Pace is roughly between half marathon and marathon race pace
3) Threshold workout totaling .6x
This would be repeats of 5-15 mins (totaling 60% of base time) with 20% recovery jog between each. Pace is roughly half marathon race pace
4) Groove pace workout totaling .5x
This would be repeats of 3-10 mins (totaling 50% of base time) with 50% recovery jog between each. Pace is roughly 8k to 10k race pace
5) VO2 Max intervals totaling .4x
This would be repeats of 3- 5 mins (totaling 40% of base time) with 100% recovery jog between each. Pace is roughly 3k to 5k race pace
6) Fast Intervals totaling .25x
This would be repeats of :30 - 2 min (totaling 25% of base time) with 200% recovery jog between each. Pace is roughly 1 mile to 2k race pace.
This would be followed up to a maximum base time of 60 minutes. Secondary easy runs can be added to increase total mileage for advanced runners once a 60 minute base time has been reached.
An example for a runner with a 60 minute base time would be:
Day 1: Quality Workout
Day 2: 45 min recovery run
Day 3: 60 min recovery run
Quality Examples:
1. 90 min steady state long run
2. Sub-Threshold: 45 min tempo run
3. Threshold: 3 x 12 min w 2:30 jog recovery
4. Groove: 6 x 5 min w 2:30 jog recovery
5. VO2 Max: 8 x 3 min w 3 min jog recovery
6. Fast Interval: 15 x 1 min w 2 min recovery jog