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Tip: What does it mean to run 4 x 1600m or 3 x 10 minutes? Coach Jay does the math - NikeRunning.comPublished by
What does it mean to run 4 x 1600m or 3 x 10 minutes? Coach Jay does the math
Unless you’ve raced track (or even if you have), it can be confusing to try to decipher interval workout instructions. What does it mean when your workout calls for doing, say, 4 x 2 minutes at tempo effort with 1-3 minutes of easy running between intervals?
When reading workouts, the first number is the number of repetitions that you run, so in this case it’s 4 reps. The next number is the duration of the repetition, which can be either distance or time. In this case it’s 2 minutes, but you’ll also see workouts like 4 x 1600m, which means 4 reps of 1600 meters.
I think the easiest way to understand this is to write out each segment of running—each portion of tempo effort running, followed by each portion of easy running. Written that way, the workout looks like this:
1. Run 2 minutes at tempo effort, then run for 1-3 minutes easy as your recovery. 2. Run another 2 minutes at tempo effort, followed by 1-3 minutes of easy running. 3. Run 2 minutes at tempo effort, again followed by 1-3 minutes of easy running. 4. Run 2 minutes at tempo effort to finish the workout.
As you can see, you’ll run a total of 8 minutes at tempo effort in this workout. And now it’s probably easier to see that 4 x 2 minutes = 8 minutes of total running. The recovery in between is up to you. You can take as little as 1 minute or as long as 3 minutes. Jay
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