Workout of the Week: 124 – Legs, Lungs & Lactate Ladder Pt.1

Here we come with a new series of workouts all based around the ladder format of starting and finishing with short, sharp reps and getting through some solid grind in the middle of the session.

WHAT?

Legs, Lungs & Lactate Ladder Pt.1

2x30s, 2x60s, 2x90s, 2x120s, 2x90s, 2x60s, 2x30s

@ mile-to-5k race pace

1min jog recoveries

Terrain: Undulating terrain for a fartlek session or flat, measurable pathway for accurate GPS readings.

The idea with a ladder session like this is that you set the tone with shorter, sharper reps at the start—focusing on good technique—before moving into more intensity and grind in the middle. And finally finishing off with two quality 30-second efforts.

Make the shortest reps about mile pace/effort and then 2-minute reps no faster than 5k race pace/effort—and find paces somewhere in-between for the 60s and 90s reps.

WHY?

This workout tests and strengthens legs, lungs and lactate.

We want to really dial in the legs with great technique in the 30-second efforts at the start and then really test out your ability to run well when fatigued for the final 30-second efforts.

The lungs get a great workout in the middle stages and we also test your body’s ability to flush out the fatigue by only having relatively short 1-minute jogs.

HOW?

You could run this session as a pure fartlek run by going off-road and not worrying about exact paces, but do it all by feel. Or you could keep it on a flat measurable pathway so you have better feedback from watch on how fast you’re moving.

Be sure to keep the 1-minute jog recoveries VERY light.