Economy Workouts

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Here at RPI, economy workouts are used at this time of year in track training to help the body utilize its anaerobic energy pathways and to allow your body to become familiar with it's mechanics at faster paces. The goal is to turn the bodies fuel efficiency at a high speed from that of a F-350 to that of a Mustang. Jack Daniels refers to these workouts as repetition workouts or (R). For some, it is at a pace faster than race pace, for others it is at race pace depending on your event group. Usually it is good to have a coach prescribe the pace that best fits your running as it is different for distance specialists and middle distance specialists.

A standard workout that Jack has in his book is sets of (200,200,400) which have equal jog recoveries. I have prescribed 3 sets to some athletes and I have prescribed 6 sets to others. It is individualized based on the event being trained for, the overall volume the athletes is training with, as well as the training age of the athlete. A set would look like this- 200 @ R, 200 jog, 200 @ R, 200 jog, 400 @ R, 400 jog. Each set is 1 mile of running or 800m of R pace running.

The most important part to understand about these workouts is that the recovery should be full. An athlete does not want to allow their form to break down at the end, and they should end the workout feeling like they could do more if he/she were asked to. The harder more intense workouts will come in time. Athletes should not start each repetition until the athlete feels he/she can complete the next without breaking down in form.

I have found through my years of coaching that the adaptation to this type of workout is very quick. The first workout may be difficult (especially for the longer distance runner), but each consecutive workout feels more controlled and comfortable. Usually after 3-4 workouts the beginner can make their pace slightly faster.

As the season progresses this is a good workout to do in spikes or flats since running in trainers does not allow the same economy as their lighter counterparts, and it allows training to be a bit more specific towards your goal.

As always, it is important to allow for a good warmup and follow the workout with a good cool down. Be sure to stretch the calves and hamstrings after as these are two muscle groups that I have seen become sore after starting these workouts.