When you can finish the workout feeling tired but triumphant, rather than shattered, you’ll know you are ready to race. That’s why Joyner emphasises the importance of finding the right headspace, with a mix of self-control, relaxation and focus. The actual distance covered isn’t the issue it’s the mental challenge of breaking it up into so many pieces that makes it daunting. Remember to warm up before starting speedwork - these drills are ideal.Īs hard as this workout sounds, it’s worth remembering that 20 x 400m only adds up to about five miles of hard running – no different from a common workout such as five mile repeats. Joyner recommends following the ‘no-bend-over’ rule: if you have to stop and put your hands on your knees to catch your breath before starting your recovery jog, you’re going too hard. Still, the overall effort should remain controlled. (This will also help you keep track of how many you’ve done.) Run the first set at 10K pace, then try to make each successive set a little quicker. One helpful trick is to divide the workout into four sets of five repeats each, with an extra 200m of jogging after each set. Learning to properly distribute your effort over the course of the workout is one of the keys to success. While the symmetry of running one lap around the track is appealing, you can also hit the roads or trails for a comparable session, like a 20 × 1:00 hard, 1:00 easy fartlek.įind out the difference between fartlek, tempo and interval runs here. There’s nothing magical about running 20 × 400m. Alternatively, if you’re focused on shorter races, such as 5Ks, you might start with shorter, speedier intervals, progressing from 20 × 200m to 20 × 300m to 20 × 400m, each time with a 200m jog recovery. Plan to hit 20 × 400m four to six weeks before a goal race. Start with a more modest workout such as 10 x 400m, and repeat the workout every week or two, adding two to four repeats each time. Here’s how to harness the power of repetition in your training. This physiologic hypertrophy is characterised by normal cardiac function (systolic and diastolic) and is paralleled with an increase in the body muscle mass. Emil Zátopek, who won the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon at the 1952 Olympics, reportedly ran 20 × 400m with 200m recoveries every day before the 1948 Olympics, with hard 200m repeats before and after. Normal response to aerobic conditioning leads to enlargement of the myocytes with preserved architecture and corresponding expansion of the capillary beds. This type of workout has a long pedigree. So many stops and starts demand a focused state of mind and the physical challenge leaves you with a sense of mastery that you’ll bring to your next race in tip-top condition. But the benefits, he argued, are ‘as much spiritual or philosophical as they are physiological’. Depending on your pace, each repeat might take somewhere between one and two minutes – shorter than the ‘optimal’ length. Joyner suggested building up to doing 20 × 400m with a 200m jog after each repeat. So it was a surprise when the leader of that team, Mayo Clinic physiologist Michael Joyner, promoted a very different workout in a recent blog post. The sweet spot for boosting aerobic fitness, they determined, was repeats that lasted three to five minutes each. A few years ago, researchers combed through four decades of training studies to determine the most effective type of interval workout.
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