Typically, the amount of recovery time you have during a speed training session is fixed between reps. Not the case for this particularly evil protocol (thanks Waverley Harriers!)

Due to my midweek game, I did not get the chance to go along to my running club to do the session with everyone else. I picked up the details from Strava, and did it on Thursday lunchtime instead.

It’s very simple:

• 6 x 3 minute runs (‘fast’ pace, e.g. target 5k)
• Recovery varies each time:
  • After 1st rep: 02:30
  • After 2nd rep: 02:00
  • After 3rd rep: 01:30
  • After 4th rep: 01:00
  • After 5th rep: 00:30 (!)

For me, 3 minutes is roughly 800m (2 laps) so I set myself the target of doing that for each rep. As the rest periods shortened, this obviously got a lot harder to achieve!

Here’s how my distance and pacing worked out (Remember that 4:00 km/h is the target pace for me to hit a 20 minute 5k).

1. 800m (3:44 km/h)
2. 830m (3:37 km/h)
3. 790m (3:48 km/h)
4. 760m (3:56 km/h)
5. 720m (4:09 km/h)
6. 730m (4:05 km/h)

The collapse is pretty obvious! I also felt a little tired right from the beginning (not ideal sleep this week!). I shook this out of my legs for the 2nd rep, but I couldn’t win against the rest periods decreasing. NOT THIS TIME anyway.

Definitely a challenging session, although I would class it as more of a speed endurance one. Certainly one for strengthening the mind and keeping pushing on as well…