This is a great speed session to really get your legs turning over and get your body used to going fast and giving that little extra. It’s an ideal session to work on race pace, speed development and pushing hard when it gets tough.

The workout consists of a set of 400m runs at your current 5K pace, followed by a set of 200m runs at your mile pace. Between each hard effort, there’s a 200m recovery jog.

After completing the set of 400m repeats, your legs will likely be pretty tired. The real challenge of this session comes from maintaining consistent 200m reps despite this fatigue. With limited recovery between efforts, your body doesn’t have time to fully clear the built-up lactate. This trains your body to become more efficient at moving lactate to other muscles and organs through a process called the lactate shuttle, ultimately improving your ability to maintain speed under fatigue.

Session Details

Pacing: Aim to run the 400m intervals at a pace near your current 5K pace. The 200m intervals should be run at your mile pace - you should really be moving quickly here.

Recovery: The 200m recovery between sets should be a light jog.

Group 1
5 x 400m repeats / 200m recovery
5 x 200m repeats / 200m recovery

Group 2
6 x 400m repeats / 200m recovery
6 x 200m repeats / 200m recovery

Group 3
7 x 400m repeats / 200m recovery
7 x 200m repeats / 200m recovery

Group 4
8 x 400m repeats / 200m recovery
8 x 200m repeats / 200m recovery