Intervals stage
This stage may be relatively shorter than the first one, but is one that needs maximum effort by the athlete. It mostly centers on speed. Athletes often use the intervals at this stage in projection to the time they would like to run in the race. For example, to cross each 400m lap in 63 seconds comfortably in a race, an athlete should be able to do 400m inter- vals of 59 seconds twelve times. There are intervals of 600m, 800m, 1000m, 1200m, 1600m and 2000m. Below are the running times I gathered from the two athletes I interviewed. However, it is always advisable to add or subtract some seconds from the times, which in this case should be subtraction because these athletes are some of the fastest on earth. 400m (59seconds) x 12 -1min recovery 600m (1:29) x 8 -1 min recovery 800m (2:02) x 6 -11/2 min recovery 1000m (2:37) x 5 -11/2 min recovery 1600m (4:12) x 3 -2mins recovery 2000m (5:30) x 2 -2mins recovery A day’s track workout should all add up to 4km – 5km. A few days to the race, speed workouts of 200m are included to help in the finishing kicks. The hill workouts at this stage are also shorter and more of speed works. It includes 400m uphill runs 15 times or faster, 100m uphill runs 20 times. The program is prepared in such a way that there is a moderate one hour run and a very easy 40 minutes jog a day in between days of hard work outs so that the athletes recover enough. Faster female athletes like Vivian Cheruiyot employ the services of male athletes to help her push harder and meet her target times in the intervals. During track workouts, athletes go to a track facility which is situated at a place that lies lower in the altitude from where they often train and stay. This makes them maximize their speed. There isn’t much to say about the race strategy here, unless you are after running a specific time and this will mean subdividing the distance into 3000m and 2000m and setting a target time for each part. It also helps to run two or three races in preparation for your major race.
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