This is no lie! Running 1200s with 400 recoveries is, in my opinion, the toughest interval Pfitz has me running during marathon training (though only 6 repeats). By the final 1200 you'll be thankful there isn't one more left.

 

Here's what they leave me thinking after each one...

 

Run 2-3 miles to warm up over to the high school track and finish with one lap around to check out the track for any "issues" before starting the intervals.

 

1st - "Hey, that was a good one - felt fast but smooth"

2nd - "Wow, who moved the finish line on that one - stupid Garmin must be off too"

3rd - "How the heck am I supposed to do three more of these dumb things"

4th - "Was ... that ... only ... 4? Oh crap, there's two more"

5th - "Please ... make ...  it ... end"

6th -"Gasp ... "

 

Then, I typically end up with a couple more cool down miles to run home from the track at the high school. The funny thing is that those cool down miles always feel slow but end up being faster than the warm-up run to the track.

 

BTW, I program the workout online in Garmin Connect and then download the workout to my Garmin. It's nice because it will give you a warning beep ... beep ... beep at the start and end of each interval and/or recovery.

+1! That's a tough one. You don't want to have a full stomach before that workout...

Bruce, how do you like the 9 miler with 3X1600m @ 5k pace during the second to last week of the Pfitz marathon plans? Just when you've just about had it with training and you're exhausted, he throws that on us...

I'm looking at the Advanced 10k plan in the RW Guide to Road Running but everysays keeps saying how hard Pfitz is. Does he have a 10k or half plan I should look at?

Pfitz also wrote a book titled Road Racing for Serious Runners. You can get plans for 5K to the marathon in it.

 

A track is really very simple.  Walk around a track and at the start of one of the curves, you will see a line all the way straight across the track.  That is the common finish line and it is where I start all of my speed work.  Now, walk in a counterclockwise direction around the curve (your left foot is on the inside).  When you get to the end of the curve, you should see a line on lane one.  That's 100 meters.  Walk down the straight.  You will see another line at the end of the straight.  That's another 100 meters.  Walk the next curve and you will see another line in lane one at the end of the curve.  That's another 100 meters.  Walk down the next straight and you have returned to your starting point.

Except there are two possibilities for confusion for beginners, I think:

- the start line for the 110 hurdles

- the break line (probably dotted)

I don't know the geometry on the latter, but in my experience it isn't far from the 300/1500 start.

My favorite speed work is running a tempo pace 300m then 100m all out!!  A slow jog interval for 200m, then repeat

Six times

This is my argument with Pfitz.  I'm trying to see what in the world 3 x 1,600 @ 5K pace has to do with running a marathon.  Per Hudson, it's a terrific race specific workout close to a 5K.  That workout a few weeks from a marathon makes as much sense to me as does a 15 mile marathon pace run two weeks before a 5K.

Banshee,

I got my HM plan out of that Pfitz book.

In reply to the thread question, I did one of my favorite workouts today.

2 mile warm up + 10 x 300 meter hard uphills @ 5K effort (roughly 10K pace) with downhill recovery jogs + 6 x 300 meter hard downhills @ 5K effort (roughly mile pace) with uphill recovery jogs + 2 mile cool down + form drills.  I always try to do the last uphill the fastest and managed about 5:50 for that one.  The best part was letting it all hang out on the last downhill effort just for the hell of it.  I saw 4:34 on my Garmin.  Now that was fun.  My legs hate me right now.