Hardest t&f workout you've ever done?

[trackstar]

Given how many of us on this board are old geezers, maybe this belongs on the "Historical" board. :-)

What is the hardest t&f workout you've ever done? (My apologies if this topic has been covered before; I searched for a previous thread and couldn't find one.)

Hands-down, this was my hardest, courtesy of Stan Huntsman. So grinding that we only did it twice a year, once in fall and once in spring:

Every lap was to be done a the same pace, which made it seem easy at first, but pretty painful by the end:

8x400
2x800
1x1600
2x800
8x400
minimal rest in between, if I remember correctly.

Most of the team knew it was coming, because Huntsman always posted calendars in the locker room of upcoming workouts. But one Irish guy who never looked at the calendar dropped his jaw when SH told us what we would be doing, and replied "What -- are we gonna do that on bicycles?"

[SQUACKEE]

our coach told us it was 6 miles of switchbacks up to the top of this mountain- 8,000 ft. well it was 12 miles and we were racing each other expecting the top any secound. ouch

running repeat 1/4's at 50 ouch!

[kuha]

It was about my sophmore year in HS x-country that our coach had us do 48 x 220y. The first 20 or 30 of them were ok, the rest were at a pathetically deteriorating pace...ending at a less-than-race-walk tempo. We never had to do that foolish workout again.

[bekeselassie]

Had one inept coach who made us run for an hour on the track every day for the first month of the season. Just a normal run, and physically it was easy, but I was begging him after several days to let us out on the roads. The monotony was horrible!

This may not be the kind of workout you were looking for, but I had to mention it. Coaches, don't do this to your team. Trust them on the roads!

[26mi235]

One guy I heard of did 25 x 400 @ 63 with minimal rest interval but did have a running start on most of the repeats. I think he also did at least one with quicker pace between 60 and 61, but he only did half as many repeats.

[Jefferson Buffalo]

My toughest involved pianos and large animals, but I don't recall the details.

[SQUACKEE]

here's a cute one i did at u of montana

70 secound 1/4 than a 90 secound 1/4 ... repeat as long as you can. i made 4 1/2 miles. it got hard to recover at 6 min. pace-ouch

[kuha]

Ah, the good old days when we could think of a 90 second quarter as "recovery" pace, instead of utterly-impossible-you'll-blow-both-hamstrings-are-you-kidding-me pace.

[SQUACKEE]

Ah, the good old days when we could think of a 90 second quarter as "recovery" pace, instead of utterly-impossible-you'll-blow-both-hamstrings-are-you-kidding-me pace.

now my recovery pace is two days off :cry:

[gh]

If you can remember the hardest workout you ever did, then you never did a really hard workout! :-)

[SQUACKEE]

If you can remember the hardest workout you ever did, then you never did a really hard workout! :-)

Memories.. misty watercolor memories...the ones to painfully to remember we simply choose to forget :x

[Trackshark]

This was one workout from our fall training:

5x300 at 40 second pace (3 min rest)

15x250 meter hills (run up, jog down)

Squats, cleans, shrugs in the weight room. Squatting 135x10, 225x8, 315x8, 365x6, 425x4 after that workout is no joke, especially on rice and beans for lunch!

Go back to the dorm and play Grand Theft Auto and pretend to blow up your coach is the best stress reliever :wink:

[EPelle]

Something which taxed both my endurance and speed:

2x(4x400) (2.30/5.00)

59-59-58-59 | 59-58-58-56

3x(2x300) (2.00/3.00)
37,3-37,5 | 37,8-37,8 | 37,0-36,5

2x150 (250m rec)
17,2-17,1
____________________________

Strength workout:

16.00-minute at 80% out-and-back, everyone in different directions
1x1600 as soon as we got back to the track and to the start line... 4.08,4

2 laps recovery

20.00-minute steady state (5.10 pace)
2x1000 team... 2.31,9-2.31,4
____________________________

Workout I hated!:

8x300 with 30s recovery - 1500m race pace (44,8);
4x150 (250m rec)... 17,5-18 seconds

[marknhj]

If I said what my hardest workouts were in running terms I'd be laughed off the board! However, 12 x 200m hopping proved rather discomforting as did uphill bounding sessions, with a weighted belt, in Richmond Park at 7am.

[gh]

Yeah, in a serious vein, all my horrid workouts involve very heavy objects and my being required to make them move repeatedly.

Try a full squat with twice your body weight, butt hitting the floor and you'll dream fondly of rep 200s.