Floats

This week at the track, we tried a slightly experimental session: running two different distances with floats in between, instead of the classic jog recoveries. In this session, the floats were only about 30 seconds slower than the fast reps, making for a demanding workout that required a lot of focus to get the pacing right. If you went too fast at any point, you’d burn out quickly.

But why choose floats instead of jog recoveries? Just as what you do during the hard reps is important, what you do for the recoveries is equally crucial. If you’re running a session at mile to 3km pace, you typically want to slow down after the rep to catch your breath, flush out lactic acid, and then go again.

With floats, however, you’re gliding through the recovery rep without stopping completely. This forces you to take the hard rep a bit slower, perhaps around 5km pace. You still experience lactic acid build-up in your legs, and during the recovery, your body has to work harder to clear it than if you had stopped. This could be vital during a race when you’ve just surged up a hill or are trying to keep up with a competitor. Your legs may be screaming, but because you’ve trained with floats, your body will be accustomed to maintaining a quicker pace while efficiently clearing lactic acid.

Floats are also beneficial because they simulate race-day conditions more closely. When sprinting, you’re engaging fast-twitch muscle fibers. However, during floats, you activate the muscles that you’ll rely on during the race itself. Floats primarily engage the slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for endurance and help sustain prolonged effort. They also recruit some fast-twitch fibers, but in a more fatigue-resistant way. Strengthening these muscles translates into faster times as your body becomes adept at alternating between higher intensity efforts and controlled recoveries. It allows you to surge up a hill and then relax back down with greater efficiency.

For our session, we split the workout into two sets with a rest break in between, allowing each group time to regroup. With floats, groups can become strung out since you aren’t stopping at the end of each rep, so the break helped everyone come together, discuss the next steps, and make any necessary adjustments without losing focus.

The first set involved 800 meters “on” and 400 meters “off,” while the second set consisted of 400 meters “on” and 400 meters “off.” The 800s were run at 5km pace, while the 400s were slightly faster. This allowed the runners to experiment with different paces, much like they would in a race. After the challenging 800s, digging deep to go faster on the 400s was essential. The floats during the session were about 30 seconds slower than the work efforts, ensuring a challenging yet manageable intensity.

Breakdown of the Session

Group 1
Set 1: 2 x 800m at 5K pace, with 400m float in between
Rest: 3 minutes walk
Set 2: 3 x 400m, faster than Set 1, with 400m float in between
Total: 4800m

Group 2
Set 1: 3 x 800m at 5K pace, with 400m float in between
Rest: 3 minutes walk
Set 2: 3 x 400m, faster than Set 1, with 400m float in between
Total: 6000m

Group 3
Set 1: 3 x 800m at 5K pace, with 400m float in between
Rest: 3 minutes walk
Set 2: 4 x 400m, faster than Set 1, with 400m float in between
Total: 6800m

Group 4
Set 1: 4 x 800m at 5K pace, with 400m float in between
Rest: 3 minutes walk
Set 2: 4 x 400m, faster than Set 1, with 400m float in between
Total: 8000m