Twin Peaks

I try to keep my sessions as simple as possible! But sometimes you have to go a little bit out there to find an exciting session. That’s exactly what I did with this “Twin Peaks” session. It consists of 9 reps of fast bursts with a 200m recovery between each, following an “SMLMSMLMS” pattern - i.e., short-medium-long-medium-short-medium-long-medium-short. The shorter reps are run slightly quicker than the longer reps, and the 200m recoveries are taken a bit slower after the long reps than after the shorts.

It’s a fast, varied, and exciting session that really tests runners. If you go too fast too soon in the first peak, you’ll pay for it coming up the second one. Generally, though, the group really enjoyed this session because it has shorter distances that people could just go all out on.

The session is primarily designed to test your pacing skills. You have to think ahead to the second peak, consider how fast to run the varying distances, and anticipate how your body is going to feel later on in order to maintain consistent efforts. I find this workout flies by because by the time you’ve climbed to the top of each peak, it’s so much fun blasting the shorter reps! Especially that last short rep where you give it absolutely everything you’ve got!

Session Details
Always 200m recovery between intervals

Group 1 (Total 3400m)
Peak 1: 200m / 400m / 600m / 400m / 200m
Peak 2: 400m / 600m / 400m / 200m

Group 2 (Total 5200m)
Peak 1: 400m / 600m / 800m / 600m / 400m
Peak 2: 600m / 800m / 600m / 400m

Group 3 (Total 6400m)
Peak 1: 400m / 800m / 1000m / 800m / 400m
Peak 2: 800m / 1000m / 800m / 400m

Group 4 (Total 6800m)
Peak 1: 400m / 800m / 1200m / 800m / 400m
Peak 2: 800m / 1200m / 800m / 400m