Workout of the Day

Karlee (left) and Kristen (right). 

4 x (500m, 300m, 200m)

Splits: 

Set #1: 1:33, 53, 33
Set #2: 1:33, 53, 33
Set #3: 1:36, 52, 33
Set #4: 1:28, 50, 32

Recovery: Rec jog equals distance of the next rep, roughly 80" - 3' rec range.

Kristen Rohde & Karlee Coffey — July 31st, 2013

Context & Details 

Both Kristen and Karlee were coming back from an extended brake after a long and successful track season. Karlee won the NAIA national championships outdoors in the 5,000m and 10,000m that spring and Kristen established (at-the-time) new personals best of 16:10 on the track for 5,000m and 34:22 for 10,000m.

They had wanted to target fall road races from 5,000m to half marathon in distance, and this was one of their early workouts back in this build up. I opted for 500m breakdown to reestablish and introduce critical speed. Although the total global volume of quality is short - 4,000m - for Kristen and Karlee at the time, these were their 3,000m, 1500m, and 800m paces for the 500m, 300m, and 200m reps, respectively. And for the distance runners, this type of velocity needs to be respected and thought of, at least early on in a training cycle, as speed work. So in some ways, this could be thought of as an introductory speed endurance session for the current audience.

Typically, during this phase of their build up, the faster workout was complimented by a longer and stronger workout during the training week. They were both employed full time so we had to keep things simple and focused due to their workforce constraints. 

However, such was not a barrier as both went on to compete well and run fast later that fall as well as in years to come.

Any questions? I'm happy to answer. You can send me a Direct Message on Twitter or email me at jmarcus.hpw@gmail.com
Thx //  jm