3 miles + 2 miles + 1 mile cut down
Splits: 18:13, 11:26, 5:26
Recovery: 3 minutes after 3 miles; 2 minutes after 2 miles.
Cashlee Rayas, October, 2012
This is one of my all-time favorite workouts, 3 miles + 2 miles + 1 mile. I took it from the Bill Squires’ book, Speed With Endurance, and often use it for Cross Country prep, or 5k/10k prep on the track. It can be used in many different ways, but I like to finish the last mile around goal 5k pace and run the previous two reps at 25″/mile slower (3 miles) and 15″/mile slower (2 miles) which makes that last mile at goal 5k pace pretty tough.
I’m not sure that anything about this particular workout really stands out, other than the fact that Cashlee Rayas basically set personal bests through each distance that day in practice. Technically, her mile PR was 5:18, but every other split was a PR. And this was her freshman year at Dallas Baptist University, and it was only October.
Now, a few notes on this workout. Originally she was scheduled to only do 3 miles + 2 miles, but she was rolling and feeling good and we got greedy. I say ‘greedy’ because a week later she was ‘injured’ with thigh-splints. I put injured in quotes because she was able to race and finish out the season, but with very limited training. This workout started a cycle of great training by Cashlee and then injuries and limited training.
It took us two years to figure out her training recipe, but once we did she took off. She’s the 3rd fastest 5k runner to ever wear a DBU jersey and is one of our all-time greats in Cross Country. She’s also one of the most coach-able runners I’ve had the pleasure to coach.
Check back in tomorrow as we do a spotlight on Cashlee for our Greater Texas Track Club Elite team!
Phillips Running 