Welcome to the fifth of (hopefully) many Workout Wednesdays. The goal of this column is to create a set of shorter blogs targeted specifically towards providing newer runners with a tangible place to start running beyond just going out to jog a few miles. I do my speed workouts on Wednesday, which is why it made perfect sense to post these workouts in the middle of the week. I find it to be an ideal time a few days after my Monday tempo run and before my Saturday long run, but you can incorporate this into your plan wherever it makes sense. I recommend consuming some sort of nutrition before your workouts – my default is a cold glass of Chia Fresca. If you have a go-to workout that you run regularly and want to share with other readers, please reach out through our contact page to be featured in a future Workout Wednesday.
This workout is a standard interval workout. It begins at a longer distance and as you progress through the sets you start to get shorter and faster. As with every interval workout be sure not to burn out on the first few iterations or the subsequent ones will be all the more difficult. Be disciplined with the rest periods, allow your body enough time to recuperate for the next interval, but no more!
The Workout:
1-2 miles warm-up
2 x 1,000m @ 5k pace w/ 2 minutes of rest
2 x 800m @ 15 seconds faster than 5k pace w/ 90 seconds of rest
2x400m @ 30 seconds faster than 5k pace w/ 60 seconds of rest
1-2 miles cooldown
Now that you’re finished, go down a delicious recovery drink and definitely do not forget to stretch!
Let us know how the workout went and how we can improve in the comments below. Was anything about the workout unclear? If you have a workout you want to share reach out via our contact page and don’t forget to follow the blog to get these delivered straight to your inbox.