Monadnock Regional Milers

The Michigan

5K/10K workout  and Distance Focus (more than 10K as max race distance)

Warm up => (1600 => recovery mile => 800 => recovery mile => 400) => cool down

The Michigan is a workout adapted from the University of Michigan. The “original” workout consists of 1600 meter, 1200 meter, 800 meter and 400 meter fast effort runs on the track, with a “recovery” mile run off the track sandwiched between efforts. The entire effort is measured by time as is each of the repeats. The goal of the workout is to run strong efforts on the track while running quickly during the recovery. The results are then interpreted to denote both strength and speed.

For instance, if someone were to run the workout a second time and the overall time were the exact same, the results could still be different. Let’s say the overall is the same, but the repeats are faster, then the athlete has gotten faster, but their overall fitness, or their ability to recover has lessened. If their repeat times are slower, then their ability to recover has gotten better, but their speed has dropped.

However if they’ve seen improvement, the results could still reveal differences in improvement. If their repeats got faster but relatively no change to their recovery, then speed has improved without gains to recovery. If the repeats are the same, but recovery is vastly improved, they’ve seen gains to their efficiency without gains to speed. If both have improved, then there have been gains in both efficiency and speed.

We’ve used a variation of the Michigan for ten years now. We’ve removed the 1200 meter segment to make it more appropriate for high school use. It’s gone from being our toughest workout to one of the most anticipated workouts of the year, as the athlete’s know it will reveal the gains they’ve made during the season. We do it just a couple weeks into the season and then about five weeks later.

Beginning runners

Prepare to cover 10 laps (2 and ½ miles) by running as easily as you can for one lap, then walking for one lap. As your fitness improves add one lap of running to the workout, while keeping the walking lap the same until you can run for 10 laps straight. Now you are ready to begin the 5K/10K workout regime.