Advanced Marathoning

Appendix C O₂max Workout Chart

The training schedules in this book call for doingO₂max workouts at your current 5K race pace, in repeat segments of 600 meters to 1,600 meters. By current 5K race pace, we mean a race run on a reasonable course in good conditions – not, say, a hilly 5K on a cold, windy day.

The chart that follows gives lap and split times on a standard 400-meter track for workouts based on 5K race times of 14:00 to 24:30. (One mile is almost 10 meters longer than four laps of a 400-meter track, so the 1,600-meter splits are slightly faster than the per-mile pace for a given 5K time.)