Distance Workouts

The following are for hard days.Do a 1-2 mile run for the warm up. Also be hydrated and have eaten a substantial meal so you're ready. Cool down and stretch properly after.

You’ll need a digital watch or kind of timer for these. Don’t run with your phone in your hand/pocket, unless you have a nifty running waist pack. You could always run a loop and leave your timing device at your start/stop point so as not to carry it.

Easy days should be your prescribed mileage/timed run, with 6-8 strides (ideally barefoot) after, with a static stretch to finish.

1. Time Trial of 1 or 2 mile. *Great if you're short on time.

   • Easy to map out and do if you don't have a watch. Makes you appreciate your teammates and competition.

   • Could add 2-3 200's @ 800m pace after a 2 min rest.

2. Kenyan Fartlek: Run (1 min hard, 1 min easy jog recovery) x 10 - 20. Younger/less fit runners do less, vets/fit ones do more. Hard pace, somewhere between Mile and 2 Mile goal pace.

   • In half of your hard minutes, do a 5-10 second burst, then settle back in to the fast pace.

   • Fartlek is Swedish for "Speed Play," so remember to feel quick.

   • Don't ever walk. Stay consistently hard/fast on the hard minute, and maintain the jog on the recovery even if it seems SUPER slow. This trains your body/mind to quickly move in of/out of/stay in your comfort zone while tired and not give in.

3. Lactate Stacker: Run (1 min HARD, 2 min easy jog) x 5 - 10. (younger/less fit do 5, vets/very fit do 10, or somewhere in middle). *Great if you're short on time.

   • Another Fartlek, but go HARDER on those minutes, since your recovery is longer and you're doing less.

   • Should feel like goal mile race-pace or faster.

   • They’re “stackers” because the fatigue – acid build-up – should come on sooner with each one you do.

   • Like Kenyan Fartlek, DON'T EVER WALK. You should be dreading the start of last third hard runs you do.

4. 8 x 400m @ Goal Mile Pace, w/ 60 seconds rest between (easy jog).

   • No track or GPS? Use a site like PlotARoute (click link) to get an approximate quarter mile loop/straight away to run these repeats on.

   • Talk to a coach for realistic target times.

5. 10 x 200m @ Goal 800m Pace. Recovery = jog 200 or (harder option) jog 60 sec.

   • Same info as 8x400m.