Workout of the Week: The 4-2

This effort-based workout is a great early to mid-season session when you’re still fortifying your fitness foundation and neither pace nor specificity are key concerns. Here are the details:

What: 3-5 sets of [4:00 at 10K effort/2:00 jogging recovery/2:00 at 5K effort]. Jog 4:00 for recovery between sets.

Why: This is a challenging effort-based workout (i.e. don’t be chasing numbers!) that will improve your aerobic capacity, strength, efficiency, and focus.

Warmup/Cooldown: Warm up before the workout with 15-30 minutes of easy running followed by a set of drills and 4-6 x 20-second strides (i.e., accelerate for 5 seconds, spend the next 10 seconds at near-top speed, and then gradually decelerate to a jog over the final 5 seconds. Catch your breath for 40-60 seconds and then repeat 3-5 more times). Cool down after the workout with 5-15 minutes of easy running.

Where: Off the track! Best to do this workout on the roads, trail, or grass where there’s some variety to the terrain that makes trying to hit a specific pace irrelevant. You can also do it on the treadmill if you aren’t able to get outside.

When: This effort-based workout is a great early to mid-season season session when you’re still fortifying your fitness foundation and neither pace nor specificity are key concerns.