Another question about an oldie but goodie

Do any of you run the Hudson (2 x) 6-5-4-3-2-1 minute tempo with 6=MP, 5=HMP, 4=10k, 3=8k, 2=5k, and 1=3k pace?

There are 1 minute intervals and 5 minutes between sets.

I ran this last night as my introduction back into speedwork and wondered how others felt during/ after this workout.

I really liked it because it's relatively hard and you also keep your heart rate high for almost an hour.

I have not done this exact workout but Hudson's other speed work intro workout: the 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3 @ 10k pace and faster with equal recoveries at a decent clip multiple times. I normally feel quite fatigued at the end and after 2-3 cool down miles. Just a notch below a true interval workout.

I'm becoming a big fan of these types of workouts, though what you did is obviously harder. You don't need a track and can run them by effort if needed based on the terrain.

As I learn more about the type of training most Kenyans do on a weekly basis I think these are a good idea year-round: fartlek runs. I've read most Kenyans do a weekly fartlek run and often it becomes a run of attrition. One seems to be 20 * 2 min 'on' and 1 min 'off' with the 'off' portions still with a decent effort.

So I was crunched for time last Thursday and wanted to get some sort of workout done before having to catch a flight. I decided on the 6-5-4-3-2-1, but with only 1 set.

My impression: Uh, I don't know if I would have made it through again.

Either that or I ran way too hard on the interval, because the numbers just don't make sense. I was stuck on a treadmill, and to make it easy, I kept the interval at 6:00 pace, thinking that was okay because its meant to be a fartlek workout. Well, in the 27:00, I covered a tad over 5 miles, which puts me at a sub-5:30 pace. Thus, going through a second time would put me at roughly a 10 mile workout in about 54:00. Which would have been 30 seconds off a 10 mile race PR. There's no way I would recommend someone going that hard in a workout, unless its meant to be a once-per-cycle type workout.

So what did I do wrong?

Dave-O wrote:So I was crunched for time last Thursday and wanted to get some sort of workout done before having to catch a flight. I decided on the 6-5-4-3-2-1, but with only 1 set.

My impression: Uh, I don't know if I would have made it through again.

Either that or I ran way too hard on the interval, because the numbers just don't make sense. I was stuck on a treadmill, and to make it easy, I kept the interval at 6:00 pace, thinking that was okay because its meant to be a fartlek workout. Well, in the 27:00, I covered a tad over 5 miles, which puts me at a sub-5:30 pace. Thus, going through a second time would put me at roughly a 10 mile workout in about 54:00. Which would have been 30 seconds off a 10 mile race PR. There's no way I would recommend someone going that hard in a workout, unless its meant to be a once-per-cycle type workout.

So what did I do wrong?

I did the intervals at MP plus 45 rather than MP + 10. I also went with current 5k,3k,8k pace.

Hudson wanted this workout to be an introduction to speedwork rather than a midcycle workout.