songs of experience

In any given work-out, there are several ways to “turn” it to focus on different aspects of your training. Think of a cube. Imagine the cube has a different color for each face. Red, blue, green, etc. for a total of six different faces of the same cube.

For example: The cube = 8-10 X 300m …. also, done as 2 sets of 4-5 X 300m

The 6 faces:

1.) raw speed. Run the 300’s at your top sprinting speed with FULL recovery - waaayyyy faster than race pace. The recovery would be very slow and long (what I call the “Kimmy shuffle,” so named for a friend of mine who barely lifted her knees on these sprint recoveries) in order to bring your maixmum heart rate down below 100 before the next interval. This kind of full anaerobic effort takes longer to recover from in your training week. Raw speed work-outs help you sprint off the starting line and kick at the finish. Distance runners don’t need many work-outs in this “face.”

2.) speed endurance. Run the 300’s fast, but not sprinting - usually done at goal mile pace. The recovery jog is easy but not the Kimmy suffle. If your heart rate was at 180 on the raw speed “face,” it shoud be between 140-160 on the speed endurance 300’s. Recover enough to allow you to keep the times consistent on the 300m. Speed endurace work-outs teach you to maintain form and pace during a distance race.

3.) limited recovery. Run the 300’s fast, but don’t let your heart rate come back down fully before you start the next interval. You will not feel comfortable in this “face” of the cube - that’s the point. Limited recovery work-outs teach you to take pain. As you learn to take more pain, you can progress from 2 sets of 4-5 X 300m to 8-10 X 300m, straight through, with 100 jog (or “float”) recovery. I will often time the whole set to keep me honest on those floats (intervals + recovery; i.e. for 4 X 300m with 100 jog, that would be a full 1,500m timed).

4.) distance - you can incorporate this work-out in the middle of a distance run. After 3-4 miles, do 10 X 1 minute fartlek (60 seconds for 300m is 5:20 mile pace) with 1 minute recovery between each; then contiinue running 3-4 miles for a total of 10-12 miles. The one minute on/one minute off should be a natural feeling in the middle of a distance run … like inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, etc.

5.) taper - I often use 300m downhills in a taper phase. If you run downhill, I have been told, you only use 60% of your energy … so you can have nice leg turnover and that good, fast feeling you need before a race without the actual effort (and subsequent fatigue) of 8-10 X 300m on the track. The downhill should be gradual (you don’t want sore quads from “braking”) and the uphill jog recovery should be quite easy/gentle. *Also, you may use 300’s on the track as a taper work-out. Run them at 10k pace, as extended strides, with easy 200m jog recovery.

6.) relative ease. This is a difficult “face” to explain. I seldom repeat a work-out in a season, but when I do it is so that I will feel the relative ease of the work-out compared to the last time I did it. I may run the exact same times for the 300’s as I did 6-8 weeks earlier, but the perceived effort is much easier. It was relatively easier than the last time I did it. This “face” is crucial to race confidence as you head into your peak.

p.s. of course, you can always do 300m UPhill repeats for strength, but I consider hills a different cube altogether.