2x(300-200-150m) w/walkaround rest b/reps, 5min b/sets … goal 45s-28s-19s

Marcell/Chris – 44.6/27.7/19.0, 42.7/25.1/18.7

Eric/Devon – 45.8/27.7/19.0, 44.3/26.5/18.7

*Eric 20.0

Averages

Marcell/Chris – 13.6s (per 100m)

Devon – 14.0s

Eric – 14.1

With it being finals week, and given that they hadn’t really done any real work since their races on Friday, I didn’t want to give them too hard of a workout. But I also wanted to try to get some running in for anybody who was available (or interested) before break. I fear that several of them are taking this finals week essentially off; at the very least, I was not expecting the lack of interest in them pursuing workouts this week. I will definitely plan for that in the future with them. (To have a ‘built-in’ rest week may be easier the adjust to than trying to change the entire culture because of this one week; plus it’s finals anyway.) This workout is something they’ll revisit during winter break as well. We will do three sets of it at that time. This weekend I will be sending you the winter break workouts I gave to them.

It definitely seemed like this was too easy, as they were even fighting the wind a bit today (nothing like the 60mph gusts in El Paso, but we were getting sustained 20-30’s). And even though the pace picked up in the second set they were still running rather comfortably. I think that I will leave the paces as prescribed for over break because 1) they’re adding a third set, and 2) they won’t have somebody to pull them back if they start out too fast. It would probably be a manageable workout going 43-27-18’s or something like that, even for three sets. The walk-around rest took about 3-3:30min for the 200m walk, and 4min for the 250m walk.

A couple specific notes about the workout…

1)     These paces for this group would be a great workout if I just had the walk-around rest theme continue after the 150m… which means they would have a 100m walk before they started the 300m in 45s again. I think that this is a workout I will begin incorporating next fall, with this plan in place.

2)     I’ve really started liking using a set distance for walking as the rest period, as opposed to giving them times (i.e. 8x200m w/200m walk instead of 8x200m w/3min rest). I like it for these reasons:

a.       It seems easier to tell how quickly they are recovering by the pace of their walk… if they are taking too long and even some verbal motivation isn’t getting them moving, perhaps they should stop the workout

b.       If in the above example they were running 28’s and taking 2:30 rest, then they got a little excited in the middle for one in 26.5-27 then took 3:00 to get to the line, they probably needed that 30s to get to the level of recovery you wanted anyway.

c.       And the same works in the opposite direction… if you wanted 3min recovery, but perhaps that day they were more well rested/prepared than you expected, and they were getting there in 2:30 every time, that actually can work in your favor more than had you given them the ‘extra’ 30s they ‘didn’t need’ that day.

d.       From a workout management standpoint, if you have multiple groups going at once, it seems to be a much easier reminder to see how close your athletes are to the line they’re starting from rather than having to keep track of rest time on a watch.

e.       Obviously plan the distance of walking relative to the amount of time you’d want for resting, anyway. For slower, more aerobic efforts I’ve found a walking speed of about 1:00-1:15/100m. For moderate workouts somewhere around 1:30/100m. And for heavier lactate producing workouts probably around 2:00+/100m (depending on just how much crap goes into their legs).