This year I have been challenged as a mid-distance/distance coach with a group of very aerobically undertrained athletes. Beyond just that, their psychological ability to handle any of the 'traditional' aerobic work -- long runs, tempo runs, longer reps, etc. -- was equally deficient. But throughout the course of the year I feel like I've been able to address this issue and find ways to increase their aerobic abilities while working toward improving their psychological capacities as well.

Today was the first time I have done a rep over 1k all year, I believe. Tavares has been the most responsive on both the physiological/psychological levels on the aerobic front. So today I decided to try something a little different with him. Quick background... Tavares' times have come down from a 4:52 mile (approx 4:32 1500m) at indoor conference in mid-february to a 4:16 1500m this past weekend. His 800m in December was 2:10, in January was 2:05.9, and this past Saturday on a double he ran 2:01.7. His 400mR split this past weekend was 52.7, which is also his PR.

His workout today was 3x1-mile with a two lap jog (6-7min) between. Each mile was to be done as a cutdown each lap. We had done a few 10min tempo runs in the past couple months, his best effort for which was about 85 pace. Therefore I thought that a cutdown of 90-85-80-75 for each one might be appropriate. His results were:

84-85-80-86 - 5:35

92-87-83-75 - 5:37

94-87-81-78 - 5:40

There were several things that were exciting about the workout given where we started the year. But this is the second workout of this type (longer, cutdown rep) that I've used in the past few weeks that has proven to give me some good results.

Here are the things I like about this workout, as a longer rep for people who don't like longer reps:

-because the first lap or two are pretty easy, they almost don't feel like part of the 'rep' ... so a mile long rep may not feel that long

-for athletes who are coming from a sprint background and traditionally like going very hard for every effort regardless of the length of the rep, this is a great way to require them to go out slow enough and teach them patience (Tavares, as a 2-flat 800m runner, would sometimes go out as hard as 32s for the first 200m during our 10min tempo runs)

-for somebody who is training for the 1500m/mile, I really like how this mimics the need to 'up the effort' each lap during that race ... so even though physiologically this has not much to do with a mile race, it has a huge psychological correlation, and for those who are especially 'young' mentally in the event, this may be a great way to simulate the race pattern

-a similar workout I did with one of my half-milers who was a 400m based athlete was 2x1000m, where the first 400m was at 90sec, then the pace was increased each of the final 200m segments ... so, approximately 90-40-35-30. Again, this mimics the need to 'up the effort' without really putting a lot of physiological stress on the athlete (this athlete has PR's of 47.6/1:54, and is likely a 1:50 ability athlete - he's just new to the event still)

-note, I would've probably done 4 mile repeats with Tavares but his knee has been bothering him ... and I would've done 3-4x1k with the 800m athlete as an aerobic recovery day following a hard Wednesday workout (remember, he is a historically 400m sprint-trained athlete, so even a "20min run" is nowhere near applicable to him)

With all this said, I believe these types of workouts are the next logical steps in the effort to continue transitioning the athletes I've worked with from the Igloi-style short rep/short rest workouts and continuous Figure 8's toward being able to do more traditional workouts such as mile repeats and tempo runs.

Workout details:

-3-4x1mile @cutdown every 400m w/2 laps jog between ... start approx. 15s slower than current mile pace and cutdown 4-5sec/lap ... so for a 4:20 miler (65's), begin at 80 for the first 400m

-3-4x1k @400m steady then cutdown every 200m w/2 laps jog between ... your final 200m should be approx current mile pace ... so for a 4:20 miler (65's), begin with a 400m at 95, then cutdown 5sec/200m - 95-42-37-32

Notes - the actual paces are less important than meeting the goals of being able to cutdown under control throughout the rep. The paces provided are merely guides to give you a starting point, but you should adjust the workout based on how each individual handles it. Also, with more aerobically trained athletes, they may be able to handle this workout with only one lap rest. This would also allow them to teach their bodies to process any lactate currently in the system (because it's a slow enough pace to begin with). Remember, lactate CAN be used as a source of fuel if the body is trained to do so!