RUNNING: IT'S OKAY TO BE NEGATIVE

WANT A SIMPLE WORKOUT? An ‘out-and-back’ (OAB) fits that description. It has you running ‘out’ one distance to a point, at an easy-to-moderate speed, and returning ‘back’ to the original starting spot along the same course but at a pace that has you finishing a few minutes faster. Another name for this kind of workout is a ‘negative split’.
 
“Workout of the Week: Out and Backs” by Competitor.com was excerpted with permission from the Velopress 2010 book, “One Hour Workouts: 50 Swim, Bike, & Run Workouts for Busy Athletes” by Scott Molina, Mark Newton, and Michael Jacques. It offers a sample OAB session that can be combined with intervals.
 
Notice this workout instructs you to warm-up 10 minutes and cool down 10 minutes, but the warm-up is slower paced (Zone 1) than the cool-down (Zone 2), which is a bit slower than the main set of the workout (Zone 3). I love OAB’s because almost any run can be converted easily into one, even if it was started without a specific plan in mind. At the halfway point, just pick up the pace.
 
 IT’S IMPORTANT THAT YOU  EXPECT A WARM-UP/COOL-DOWN to be an integral part of every workout. This insures you will be able to incorporate the same components into your races to lessen the chance of injury!
 
The article instructs how you can start with a 20-minute main set and work up to a 40-minute main set, or run two 20 minute OABs.
 
Although not mentioned in this piece, the same routine can work if you plan to cycle or swim in cross training workouts.
 
RUN HAPPY!
 
http://running.competitor.com/2016/10/training/workout-week-backs_157591