Steve Prefontaine (13:21 5000m / 27:43 10000m) – Key Training Sessions
30-40 Workout
Most of us have heard of the famous 30-40 Workout Prefontaine used to do. Although it sounds challenging, believe us, it’s harder than it sounds. It is a continuous run consisting of 200m in 30 seconds, followed by 200m in 40 seconds. Pre would do this for as long as he could and that would usually be 12-14 laps (3-3.5 miles or 4800m-5600m). Keep in mind this is running through 5000m in 14:35 with alternating speeds, which is much more difficult to do than to run at a consistent pace. Pre’s record for this workout is 18 laps (4.5 miles / 7200m). Olympic 10,000m/Marathon medallist Galen Rupp once took up the challenge to better Pre’s 18 lap record and he managed 24 laps.
Try this workout yourself some time, but adjust the times of the reps to suit your ability. For example a 15 minute 5000m runner could attempt to run the faster 200m’s in 35 seconds and the slower 200m’s in 45 seconds. A 20 minute 5000m runner could attempt to run the faster 200m’s in 45 seconds and the slower 200m’s in 55 seconds.
By keeping the recovery quick—but below threshold—you’ll maintain very high lactate levels throughout the run, without pushing it so high that you have to stop. As Krista Austin, Ph.D., a physiologist who works with elite runners, explains, the body responds by learning to move lactate more quickly out of your muscles and into your bloodstream, where it can be disposed of or reused as fuel. The payoff: You’ll recover from midrace surges without slowing down.
3 x 1 mile (with varying recovery)
Prefontaine would attack this 3 x 1 mile session regularly and change the pace of the repetitions and the recovery times up. His sessions would range from doing 3 x 1 mile with 800m jog recovery in around 4:15-4:20, to taking 15 minutes recovery for the 3 x 1 mile repeats and running them in closer to 4:06-4:08. Prefontaine would very occasionally cut it down to 2 x 1 mile and try to hit them in 4 minutes. According to an observer, he once managed 2 x 1 mile with 10 minutes recovery in 4:02 and 4:00 with several people pacing him to 1000m-1200m.
10 Miles (16km) in 50 minutes + 10x300m in 50-52 seconds (jog 100m recovery)
The 10 mile tempo run would be done at 5 minute per mile pace (3:06/km) on the road. He would then hit the track and run 10x300m (if feeling very tired he would sometimes reduce this to just 6 intervals) in 50-52 seconds with a slow 100m jog recovery. The last thing you feel like doing is track intervals after a long tempo run, but Pre was a hard man.
24 x 300m (with a quick 100m jog recovery) starting in 50 seconds, ending in 44 seconds.
Prefontaine would aim to do 6 reps at around 50 seconds, 6 reps at around 48 seconds, 6 reps at around 46 seconds and then the final 6 reps at around 44 seconds. This doesn’t sound ridiculously fast, but keep in mind, his recovery was about 40-45seconds (jog 100m).
The point of this workout was to increase the speed of his repetitions as he got more tired to end the final intervals at well quicker than his race pace. Ie he was training his body to run faster than he needed to, when he was tired from 18 x 300m’s already.
