Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

anytime man.

how about any one else? mike, kw, any thoughts on if this might hurt my ability to peak properly?

Peaking properly is about resting properly and sufficiently to allow for adaptation.  Something few distance runners do in the USA.

Peaking also involves having the proper amount of races at your specialty distance under your belt.  Most American post collegiate runners don't race often enough.

so kw and danimal do you think this approach (of keeping rep speed and session volume constant and having rest be the variable to change) is a good idea?
once again example being
6x300 @ 42-43 (season goal pace)
starting with maybe 3 minutes rest and working progressively until 45 sec. rest is reached

Are you sub 2 shape right now?  If not 5 minutes rest maybe more is needed.

i plan to be in atleast sub 2 shape before i begin the progression for this, and i will know when i run some indoor races.

also when at about 2 flat shape in the past this workout was done at these speeds with just under 2 min rest and felt fine.

i was planning on cutting off 15seconds weekly from the rest, is this too ambitious in your opinion

bump, does 15 seconds off the rest every week seem like a good plan?

sebcoerules1 - 01 January 2007 05:25 PM

bump, does 15 seconds off the rest every week seem like a good plan?

I prefer to work the opposite of what you do and increase the intensity of the run through pace, not recovery.

thats understandable, but given that im doing it this way, would 15 seconds be a reasonable weekly decrease of the rest period iyo

Well I think it depends on how you are adapting.   If going that route I would probably do 20s every 2 weeks.   I would also test to evaluate where I stood, doing a max effort at the end of every 2 weeks to see how much adaptation occurred.  If you haven't adapted, changing the recovery interval is a bad idea. 

i could agree with that, i think races will be the max efforts to show my adaptation. I've planned it out where i have 2-3 weeks to "spare" keeping the same recovery interval and still making it to the end goal of 45 seconds, in case the linear progression isnt really working out, so i could plug those in wherever i stagnated.

Actually only using competition is a bad idea for testing.  Testing is imperative to the design and control of a training program.

what better test is there than a full effort race?

A full effort race is not what you want to test for all the time.   Besides, you have to wait until the race to test.