Workout breakdowns: The different types and specific examples
When it comes to workouts, there is a lot out there, making it hard to know when and where to apply the various types.
WEEKLY WISDOM: THE HARD STUFF THAT MAKES YOU YOUR BEST
There are a lot of workouts out there, and it’s often hard to know which ones to do and when. Knowing the reasoning behind workouts can help you to determine whether a given workout is right for you based on your situation. Before we begin, here are the workout categories I define:
Progressions (or cutdowns)
Thresholds (or tempos)
Critical velocity (CV)
VO2 max
Repetitions
Really, this could be further simplified to…
More aerobic work
Progressions, thresholds, and critical velocity
More anaerobic work
VO2 max and repetitions
PROGRESSIONS
Progressions, being somewhat self-explanatory, are workouts where you progress your pace to become faster and faster. Notice I said PROgress and not REgress, that’s a pretty important distinction (lol)! The goal of a progression is to start out conservative and work your way down to a pace that oftentimes ends up being close to if not at 10k pace. These sessions typically last between 20-60 minutes, but can certainly go longer if you’re training for a half or full marathon (although I rarely see this). You can progress naturally by feeling, OR you can be more methodical and pick up the pace every X minute or distance. Notably, there are different ways to approach progressions. If you want to work down to faster paces, shortening the duration and starting and ending at faster paces could make more sense. For example, this could look like…
20-minute progression broken up into 4-minute segments, starting at threshold pace and ending closer to 5k pace, cutting down by roughly five to ten seconds/mile from one segment to the next
On the other hand, if you wanted a bigger aerobic stimulus, increasing the duration to be closer to 40-60 and starting and ending at slower paces would be logical. This could look like…
50-minute progression broken up into 10-minute segments, starting at marathon pace and ending at roughly 10k pace, cutting down by roughly five to ten seconds/mile from one segment to the next
All in all, there’s a fair bit of freedom with how you compose a progression workout. Try them out if you haven’t already, you might like it!
THRESHOLDS
More traditionally, as compared to progressions, you have thresholds (or tempos). These are efforts that you can hold for roughly an hour, and frankly, give you the most bang for your buck. In terms of rating of perceived exertion, these should be done at 65-75% effort. If I could only choose one type of workout to do for the rest of my running career, it would be thresholds. These are integral to becoming a better runner, and you see professional athletes across the world honing in on their threshold paces and maximizing time at threshold from week to week (*cough* the Ingebrigtsen brothers *cough*) for this very reason.
Thresholds can be broken down into two categories: steady and long intervals. The former is plain and simple. We’re talking 20-30 minutes at threshold pace (or just below) with no rest. The latter, long intervals, can come in many different forms:
Time-based => distance-based “equivalents”:
4-6x5’ T w/ 60-75”R1 => 4-6x1M T w/ 60-90”R
2-3x10’ T w/ 90”-2’R => 2-3x2M T w/ 90”-2’R
2x10’ T w/ 90”R-2’R, 5’ T => 2x2M T w/ 90”R-2’R, 1M T
15’ T, 2’R, 10’ T, 90”R, 5’ T => 3M T, 2M T, 1M T
2x15’ T w/ 90”R-2’R => 2x3M T w/ 90”R-2’R
8-10x3’ T w/ 60”-75”R => 8-10x1k T w/ 60”-75”R
These shorter intervals allow for some experimentation with float recoveries, or recoveries that end up being around 40-45 seconds slower than threshold (aka flux training).
The benefit of choosing long intervals over steady efforts is that you can get more time at threshold within the workout, given you’re breaking up the session with rest periods. Instead of the advised 20-30 minutes for a steady, no-rest effort, you can shoot for upwards of 35-40 minutes maximum. However, the steady efforts (generally) provide a larger aerobic stimulus as they are more demanding on the body. Because of this, I like to alternate between long intervals and steady efforts, doing one long interval workout one week and a steady 20-30 minutes the next, and repeating. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I kind of dread going 30 minutes straight at a constantly uncomfortable pace, so that’s another reason why I don’t just do 20-30 minute thresholds every week. The last thing I’ll say about these efforts is it’s always good to throw on some 15-20-second hill sprints or longer 150-200-meter strides at the end. This teaches your body how to handle a high level of fatigue (from the threshold portion) at higher-end, near-maximal speeds.
CRITICAL VELOCITY
Critical velocity is considered to be time run at or just under 10k pace. In terms of effort, this would be roughly 80-85% effort. For the average runner, these efforts can be held for roughly 30-35 minutes, although sites such as this one state that it could be upwards of 45 minutes (probably for elite runners). These efforts build both your anaerobic threshold and VO2 max, making them very effective fitness builders. Given they are more strenuous on the body both physically and mentally, they should be done at lower durations/frequencies than thresholds. Similarly to thresholds, it’s almost always a good idea to add some turnover at the end. This can come in the form of any of the following:
4-6x150-200 strong w/ infield walk (or 150-200j)
2x(300,200,100) w/ 100j bw reps and 90”-2’R bw sets
3-5x300 strong w/ 75-90”R (or 200-300j / 100w, 100j)
Examples of CV workouts include…
3-5x1M at 10k w/ 90”-2’R (or 200-400j), 3’R, 4x200 at mile pace w/ 1’R
The miles are what is manipulated here, but the 4x200-meter reps should remain. Start with fewer mile reps, closer to the bottom end of the range, and work your way up to five gradually.
6-8x800 at 10k (and a little under) w/ 75”-90”R (or 200j), 3’R, 2x(300,200,100) at mile pace w/ 100j bw reps and 400j bw sets
Same as the above, the 800s are what should be manipulated. Because they’re 800s, you can progress these to be faster than 10k pace by the end of the set, closer to 5k/8k pace.
5-8x1k at 10k w/ 75-90”R (or 200j), 3’R, 4x300 strong w/ 200j
These sessions can be done weekly so long as you respect your body and the recovery process, although your safer bet is every other week. These types of workouts will be challenging and you’ll definitely start feeling it in the latter reps, but they shouldn’t leave you dead. It’s likely you’ll feel a decent bit of fatigue the next day.
VO2 MAX
VO2 max efforts fall in the three to five minute range and are done at 85-90% effort. Scientifically speaking, as stated in a Sweat Elite article, VO2 max is a valuable, performance-correlated metric that represents “the amount of oxygen (by volume) per unit [time] your body can use.” In other words, it tells you how efficient your body is at processing oxygen during exercise. Generally speaking, the higher your VO2 max, the higher your potential. Professional runners often have very high scores reaching into the high 70s and 80s. For perspective, here is a chart relating age to VO2 max:
VO2 max effort is a fairly high intensity that is predominantly seen in the scope of 3k-5k-specific workouts. Here are some example sessions:
6x800/3’ at 5k goal pace w/ 200j OR 2x(3x800/3’ at 5k/5k/3k w/ 200j) w/ 400j bw sets
Working under 5k pace is a great way to boost your confidence and make the 5k-paced efforts feel a little easier (relatively speaking, it still sucks lol).
5x1k at 5k goal pace w/ 60-75”R (or 90”-2’j), 2-4x200m strong w/ 200j (or infield walk)
The one caveat to this is that for faster runners, 800 meters will be run in under three minutes (and for elites, the same goes for 1k repeats). However, what you can do is start with some 200-meter primers (glorified strides) to get some lactic acid into the system (also inducing minor neuromuscular fatigue), allowing you to get to VO2 max faster within the main workout as your body has already undergone anaerobic stress. On the contrary, if you go right into the 800s, you (likely) won’t get into your VO2 max zone by the time you finish your first rep. This can also be resolved by shortening up the rest, meaning your body doesn’t have as much time to flush out the gunk (yes, I said gunk) from your system before getting the next 800 underway. All in all, this is a fairly specific effort that should not be done often given it’s very physically tough on the body.
REPETITIONS
The last type of workout that you should include in your training is known as repetitions (or faster intervals). These are the 200-600-meter intervals where you’re running QUICK, roughly at 1500-meter (or mile) pace but even as fast as 800-meter pace. Jack Daniels suggests your total volume of work at this effort be no greater than five percent of your weekly mileage. They are great for developing your top-end speeds and turnover and are also very fun to do (in my opinion). Who doesn’t love ripping around a track, feeling like Dash from the Incredibles?
*Embarrassing childhood confession: As a kid, I was OBSESSED with this scene and would sprint down beaches’ shorelines to see the water flying up behind me.*2
Because of the high intensity, your recoveries should be substantial to give your body the time it needs to be ready for the next rep. This can mean taking anywhere from 90 seconds to 10 minutes of rest. Here is how Jack Daniels puts it:
The recovery activity and time for reps are not so structured. The type and amount of recovery between each workbout is determined subjectively. Simply put, you recover until you feel you can perform the next run as well as you did the previous one.
Here are some example sessions:
12x200 at mile pace w/ 200j OR 3x(4x200 at mile/800/mile/800 pace) w/ 200j bw reps and 400j bw sets OR 10-12x200 uphill sprints w/ jog down recovery
8-12x300 at mile pace w/ 200-300j OR 3x(4x300 at mile pace) w/ 100j bw reps and 400j bw sets
4x(3x400 at mile/3k/mile w/ 200j [or 75-90”R]) w/ 2’R (or 400j) bw sets
2x(3x600m at 3k/3k/mile w/ 200j [or 75-90”R]) w/ 400j or 2’R bw sets OR 5x600 at 3k/mile/3k/mile/3k w/ 75-90”R (or 200j)
Similarly to VO2 max workouts, respect these workouts and choose them sparingly (even more so). This might mean doing one every three to four weeks, or even less frankly.
Well, I hope this was helpful to you guys! Hopefully, you’re coming away from this with a better understanding of the different types of workouts out there and how you can add them to your training. If you did, do me a solid and click that button right below me to send this post to a friend…
If you have further questions, please ask me of course! See my contact information at the bottom of this post; I would love to help.
Next up on All Things Running… A post-race reflection with Timmy: Crushing the Philadelphia Love Run Half Marathon in 1:15:33 for 9th overall.
ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT
My one athlete and good friend Timmy CRUSHED it at the Philadelphia Love Run Half Marathon, coming in ninth place overall (and second in the men’s 20-24 division) with an official time of 1:15:33, coming out to 5:46/mile average pace!!!
I’m super proud of the guy for going after it and crushing his goals out there. Funny enough, the Thursday leading into race weekend, he was saying 1:18 would’ve been at the upper end of what’s possible for him. Clearly, he was wrong… LOL. It was encouraging for me to see someone who had dealt with so many injuries in college bounce back and do that after nearly a year off from running. I will talk about this more in the next post, so stay tuned…
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‘ = minute, “ = seconds, T = threshold/tempo, R = rest, j = jog
Don’t judge. You probably had some weird childhood obsession, too…