Daily Stride # 24 - Workout of the week - 2-mile tempo, 4 sets of 4 x 200 meters
- Dylan Belles
- Mar 14, 2024
- 6 min read
The Workout:
2 miles at a smooth tempo pace, 5 minutes rest, 4 x 4 x 200 meters at 1-mile to 2-mile race pace w/ 30 seconds standing/light jog recovery w/ 5 minutes rest between sets.
I was introduced to this session in the Spring of 2022 while training with a Dutch team that was visiting Flagstaff for the summer. Their training was shaped around what we consider the Norweigian method which consisted of a weekly dose of 1-2 double threshold workouts, 1 sub-threshold workout, 1-speed maintenance/specific speed workout, and 1-2 days of focused hills or sprint days.
An example schedule would be
Monday - Easy + 10 second Hill Sprints
Tuesday - AM Threshold workout, PM Threshold workout
Wednesday - Easy
Thursday - Short Speed
Friday - Easy Saturday - Sub-Threshold Workout
Sunday - Long Run
This team emphasized quality, but most importantly was the emphasis on intensity control. They accumulated a lot of faster work only because they abided by the paces and efforts asked of them.
To successfully train the way these athletes train (some of the best in the world) you had to keep yourself in check otherwise you get chewed up and spit out.
This is one of the reasons why many fail to use this method as they are training at an intensity above their current level of fitness.
Who is this workout for?
This workout is best suited for the runner training for distances ranging from 1500-10k, but I can find a time and place for those training for half and full marathons.
When and why to do this workout
This workout has a ton of versatility. If you have the time and do your best to plan your training accordingly, you can do this workout almost all year long aside from the initial base building/training acclimation period.
This workout can serve as a weekly staple for athletes aiming to maintain speed and mechanical efficiency at high speeds.
What I found interesting is that the group I trained with did sessions like this regularly, rarely touching up on anything more than 400-600 meters at their 5k-10k race speeds and still being able to show up and run their best times without ever running the typical specific training workouts that are often touted as being the gold standard.
From the conversations with these athletes, they believed it was more important to practice running fast and relaxed, and doing that regularly, versus leaving their souls on the track to hit a 5 x 1k workout at 5k pace or 5 x 2 km workout at 10k pace.
I tended to agree and loved the thought of putting my emphasis on getting extremely efficient at running fast and smooth.
Later that spring I ran 1 second off my 5k personal best, PR'd in the road 5k, and my best 1500m time since I was 21 years old. If I hadn't decided to go into triathlon, I think I could've knocked down my 1500,5k, and 10k track times.
So, this leads to my point.
This workout is about maintaining composure at fast paces. You want to run as fast as possible without breaking down. The goal is not to exhaust your reserves, but rather to encourage relaxation at your best pace.
The rest is kept short to maintain a higher heart rate and to encourage the body to become better equipped aerobically by forcing the shuttling /usage of lactate for fuel.
The more comfortable you can be while running fast, the better you will feel mechanically when racing.
Oh, and before I forget, the 2 mile at a tempo speed has two roles:
Serves as an extension of the warm-up and is a way of gradually bringing your body up to speed before diving into the 200s. It also helps prevent a drastic jump in blood lactate numbers in that first set. Many of the athletes I trained with aimed for 1.5-2.0 mmol for the 2 miles which typically was a little slower than marathon pace at altitude.
Ensures that you work in some aerobic focus / slow twitch activity before targeting the fast twitch/speed work. Within this program, the goal is efficiency and the development of the aerobic system, so they put a lot of focus on ensuring that no matter the session, there is some component of aerobic work mixed in (of all ranges and varieties)
How to do this workout and how should it feel
The 2-mile rep up front should have ZERO impact on the 200’s. I’ve seen athletes see 200s on the schedule and think “This is easy” and see the long recovery so they decide that they’re going to crank out a 2-mile rep faster than their current 10k pace. What often follows is the inability to run the 200s at speed and suffer to recover during the short rest - mainly due to the 2-mile rep being such a sharp effort that they never recovered from it.
Aim to tackle the 2-mile rep with ease. You should feel like it’s a steady rhythm and never at any point get to where you’re at a loss of breath. Think of it as an extension of your warm-up and a means for allowing you to roll into your 200s feeling fresh.
Take 5 minutes between the 2 miles to get some water, perhaps change shoes, and get prepared for the set.
I like to break the 200s into several sets at first to encourage the smooth-speed idea we’re trying to achieve. Very rarely do I want these sets to cause significant strain or fight. Maybe you push it for the last few of the last set, but for the majority of the workout, you should be running fast, but undoubtedly confident. Think of running tall, relaxed hands and arms, and light and quick footsteps.
The short recovery should feel like it’s just enough to recover and bounce back and the longer recovery between sets should allow you to roll into the next set feeling like it was your first.
At the end of this workout, you should feel the speedwork accumulate on your legs, but since it’s not heavy in terms of total stress, recovery should come quickly. If you are feeling abnormally sore and tired the next day, there’s a good chance you overcooked it.
What I learned from doing these workouts is that you don’t want to leave everything out there, especially when your schedule requires a quick recovery for another session in 48 hours (or sometimes even later that afternoon).
Managing your intensity and effectively doing that is the key to accumulating as much work as possible, with the least stress on the body.
How to progress this session
There are several ways in which you can adapt this workout.
Notes
A good rule of thumb is equal recovery between reps. So if it takes 30 seconds to run a 200m (very quick) 30 seconds is good rest, but if it takes 60 seconds to run 200m it would be advised to take closer to 60 seconds.
When just beginning it’s best to start with a little more rest, 15 seconds more than your 1:1 ratio to begin.
If you need closer to 2 minutes of rest, you are doing a completely different workout.
Increase reps
2 miles at a smooth tempo pace, 5 minutes rest, 4 x 5 x 200 meters at 1 mile to 2 mile pace w/ 30 seconds standing/light jog recovery w/ 5 minutes rest between sets.
Decrease sets and increase reps
2 miles at a smooth tempo pace, 5 minutes rest, 2 x 6 x 200 meters at 1 mile to 2 mile pace w/ 30 seconds standing/light jog recovery w/ 5 minutes rest between sets.
Vary rep length
2 miles at a smooth tempo pace, 5 minutes rest, 3 x 3 x 300 meters at 1 mile to 2 mile pace w/ 45 seconds standing/light jog recovery w/ 5 minutes rest between sets.
Vary rep type
2 miles at a smooth tempo pace, 5 minutes rest, 2 x 400-300-200-100 meters at 1 mile to 2 mile pace w/ 60 seconds standing/light jog recovery w/ 5 minutes rest between sets.
That's our workout this week! Please let me know if you have any specific questions about this workout or style of workout by sending me an email at dylanbelles@gmail.com
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