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Using walking (not time) as a guide for rest in track workouts

Published by
Coach Matthew Barreau   Dec 9th 2009, 10:39pm
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As a coach who has, until recently, primarily been in charge of distance runners, I have always preferred to use active rest (jogging) between reps. There would rarely be a workout where I would even allow walking, though that would occur in instance where we were performing much higher-level efforts and I wanted the quality of those workouts higher. (In those instances I found walking would allow the nervous system more time to recover, even if jogging would have cleared metabolic wastes better.)

But as I have begun spending more time coaching in the world of the one-lappers, I have had to re-examine the rest between reps in order to get what I want from them in their efforts.

Almost always when we read workouts that others prescribe, it is this many reps, at this pace, with this much time rest. For example, 8x200m @28 w/3min rest. But as we all know, some days that workout is harder than other day: sometimes the athlete will get to the athlete at 3min and need an extra 30seconds or so, and vice-versa there are days where that athlete will be ready to go a little quicker than expected. It's easy to make those adjustments when you're administering only one workout. But in the cases where there are multiple workouts going on at once, it becomes more difficult to manage stopwatches and check rest times.

Recently I have really started liking a set distance walking as a guide for the rest with my sprinters, rather than a set time. Here are the reasons:

  • I'm a firm believer that you have to always keep athletes moving, whether that be from a physiological standpoint that moving will aid in the removal of metabolic wastes, or from the philosophical standpoint of not showing 'weakness' by hunching over to your knees or sitting/laying on the ground after your effort
  • It seems easier to tell how quickly athletes are recovering by the pace of their walk; if they are taking too long and even verbal cues to "walk faster" aren't getting them moving, then they probably need the extra rest (or should be done).
  • In an off-shoot of the last point, some days they need less time rest and some days they need more. In general I've found that they'll be ready to start the next one when they get to the line if walking a set distance... in other words, they'll walk slower if they need extra time, or faster if they don't.
  • From a workout management standpoint, if you have multiple groups going on at once, it seems to be easier (for me, at least) to monitor how far they are from their next starting line, rather than how much time is left in their rest. Addtionally, instead of having to yell out, "3min for you guys over there... and 90sec for you guys... and girls you're going in 30s" ... they know how long they have because they can see the start line approaching. (Sometimes calling out how little time they have left is a big psychological hinderance for them, as well.)
  • Obviously before-hand you have to plan the distance of the walk relative to the time you want them to rest. With my group it has been about 60-75s/100m walk on easier efforts, about 90s/100m walk on moderate efforts, and 120-150s/100m walk on the more intense efforts. (Time a few rest segments with your group to determine their speed. For example, if you have a talkative group like HS kids, you may need to prescribe a shorter walk rather than worry about trying to always make them walk faster... sometimes it is easier to manipulate them behind the scenes in the writing of the workout, than to make them feel like you are forcing them to do something by yelling during the workout.)

As I have been doing workouts like this, it has helped remind me to examine my 'tried and true' distance workouts. For example, I've always liked doing sets of 5x200m w/100m jog at mile pace for my mid-distance athletes. However, with a few of my athletes here, ESPECIALLY those coming from a sprinting background where jogging is not the norm for them, their jogs were much slower than I wanted. It wasn't that they weren't recovering in 100m worth of jogging, it was just that they were jogging much too slowly. In those instances, I've learned that doing 4-5x200m with a 50m jog got me the same 'time' I was looking for... and without beating my head against a wall by yelling more during the rest time than during the workout portion.

Send your comments/arguments/discussions...

RIAA, Coach Matt

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