Workout Friday #2: Mile Repeats

Back again with another butt-busting workout that runners both fear and love: Mile Repeats.
Mile repeats are a longer interval designed to push you just out of your comfort zone. The purpose of doing a mile repeat is to help build up speed, it's essentially like a weight workout for your legs because of the effort put forth.
Depending on the type of race you are training for, your number of reps will vary greatly. Since the workout I'm describing here has an 800m active recovery, or float, the number of reps is going to be lower than your typical mile repeat workout with a static recovery. Refer to the table below to find out how many reps you should do.

Workout Breakdown:
As with any sort of speed workout, start off with about a mile warmup.
Main Set

• 1600m at a pace that is just uncomfortable for the distance you're training for
• 800m float (pace that is just barely comfortable) for recovery

When you finish the 800m float, go straight into the next 1600. There is no stopping and resting in this workout. After all the repeats, take a minute or so to get your heart rate down and then go for about a mile cooldown.
Depending on how many reps you're doing, the total mileage will range from 6.5 miles all the way to 12.5, including the warmup and cooldown miles. If you have any doubts as to what pace you should be doing for this workout, I have included a pace calculator specifically designed for mile repeats to tell you your splits.

*To make this workout a little easier, replace the 800m float with a static rest (stand and wait) of about 3 minutes. Add on two repeats to get your mileage up, and you're good!
Now get out there, get fast, and enjoy The Life of a Runner!