another WP question - level 2 - 3K/2.5K/2K rests

[rlholtz]

I've only ever done 5 x 1500's and 4 x 2000's up until now. For variety I'm going to give 3K/2.5K/2K a whirl. Mr. Caviston has recomended doing 4 x 2K on approximately 15 minute centers, which is what I do, with similar proportional rests for 5 x 1.5K. For me that means about 7:30 rest on the 2K's and about 5:15 rest on 1.5K's.

But how much rest would a body allocate after 3K and 2.5K? Practice the same proportionality? Eleven minutes seems a long time to rest between 3K and 2.5 K. Or am I wrong?

[Nosmo]

Every time I've done this work out it has been on the water and haven't timed the rest. But...

The amount of rest is not an exact science. You want enough rest to recover but not enough to cool down.

I take 6' rest for 4x2000, which I feel is just enough. I've done 5' and definitely wanted more rest before the 4th interval. I'd probably be safer with 7' but my recovery is good and I doubt it would help that much.

As long as your rest is active, you should be pretty safe with 11 minutes. It will not hurt to get a long rest. But you could also probably take a minute or two off of that and also be fine. My recommendation would be to plan on 10 minutes after the 3k and 9 after the 2.5. If you set this up as separate intervals then you can see how you feel and extend it if necessary, or even go sooner. Once you do that once or twice, you can settle on a format for future workouts.

[arakawa]

But how much rest would a body allocate after 3K and 2.5K? Practice the same proportionality? Eleven minutes seems a long time to rest between 3K and 2.5 K. Or am I wrong?

While I can't find the reference right now in the source material, I believe the recovery piece is 75% of the work piece you just did. In other words:

3000 m work
2250 m active recovery
2500 m work
1875 m active recovery
2000 m work

Mike Caviston also recommends a cool down piece too.

[Citroen]

We're doing this horror as 3K, 4:00R, 2.5K, 4:00R, 2K as the Sub7 team challenge this month.

[badocter]

We're doing this horror as 3K, 4:00R, 2.5K, 4:00R, 2K as the Sub7 team challenge this month.

Between that session and last month's CTC, you all must all feel like you are in the Pete Plan from hell. At least in the normal PP you gradually ramp up the intensity of these sessions over long term cycles rather than trying to absolutely nail them from the first go. Given the choice, I'd prefer the 3/2.5/2k r4' in a challenge compared to the 8x500m r'3. Longer rests and more of them just mean you have to hit the reps harder to get your best and then suffer the anxiety longer in the rests.

[Gerhard]

Given the choice, I'd prefer the 3/2.5/2k r4' in a challenge compared to the 8x500m r'3..

I guess that your 8x500 R3 at 1:41 (=1K pace ) did not come easy?

[badocter]

Given the choice, I'd prefer the 3/2.5/2k r4' in a challenge compared to the 8x500m r'3..

I guess that your 8x500 R3 at 1:41 (=1K pace ) did not come easy?

It was the most painful session I can remember -- a fly and die that would not end. Was aiming for an overly-optimistic 1:40 and managed to hold that for 5 reps - you can picture how it went after that. The rests after rep 6 and 7 were misery and I think I had more lactate than blood by the end of the 8th.

I did a 3k/2.5k/2k R5' on Wednesday at 1:49.5 and while rest after the 2.5k rep hurt a bit, only the finish of the last rep felt like the end of an a full eyeballs out attempt. On the plus side, my 1k and 2k look soft so will need to remedy that soon.

[Nosmo]

Given the choice, I'd prefer the 3/2.5/2k r4' in a challenge compared to the 8x500m r'3..

I guess that your 8x500 R3 at 1:41 (=1K pace ) did not come easy?

It was the most painful session I can remember -- a fly and die that would not end. Was aiming for an overly-optimistic 1:40 and managed to hold that for 5 reps - you can picture how it went after that. The rests after rep 6 and 7 were misery and I think I had more lactate than blood by the end of the 8th.

I did a 3k/2.5k/2k R5' on Wednesday at 1:49.5 and while rest after the 2.5k rep hurt a bit, only the finish of the last rep felt like the end of an a full eyeballs out attempt. On the plus side, my 1k and 2k look soft so will need to remedy that soon.

If you set out to do the 8x500 at 1:41.5, you would have finished strong above your goals and been happy about it. If you set out to do the 3/2.5/2k at 1:48 you would have ended up feeling awful.

This really just comes down to pacing.
I may be unusual but I don't dread any particular interval or distance more then the others. Be that a L1, L2, or HM PB attempt.