Hi David - enjoying reading your articles and like how you are putting things together.
For things like your 40x100 set in this article, what do you generally try set the rest interval at?
With Aerobic it's usually a shorter rest unless you are doing a longer repeat but considering you are pushing the intensity up as the set goes on, how does that change your work:rest ratio?
I work with Jan Olbrecht now, and his guidance consistently centres around 10–30 seconds rest. Whether it’s La1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, the rest typically sits within that range.
At 10 seconds rest, the pace is slightly slower. At 30 seconds, it’s slightly faster. The difference is usually only around 1–2 seconds per 100m (so 200s move by roughly 2–4 seconds, for example).
I think where it can get blurred is when coaches set a fairly strong “aerobic” pace and then progressively reduce the rest through the set, while still expecting the pace to hold.
What that tends to do is shift a lower-level aerobic set into something much more intense, closer to a power-type demand.
If the objective is an AEC3 set or something like a Rainbow set (a true key set), then there may be justification for that. But if the goal is an AEC1 or A2 type set, then it doesn’t really fit.
You can prescribe short rest, but the pace has to stay appropriately controlled. Lower-level aerobic work doesn’t really sit well as “strong pace + short rest.”
If you want to go further into it, happy to keep the conversation going 😊
Hi David - enjoying reading your articles and like how you are putting things together.
For things like your 40x100 set in this article, what do you generally try set the rest interval at?
With Aerobic it's usually a shorter rest unless you are doing a longer repeat but considering you are pushing the intensity up as the set goes on, how does that change your work:rest ratio?
Hi Nathan,
I work with Jan Olbrecht now, and his guidance consistently centres around 10–30 seconds rest. Whether it’s La1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, the rest typically sits within that range.
At 10 seconds rest, the pace is slightly slower. At 30 seconds, it’s slightly faster. The difference is usually only around 1–2 seconds per 100m (so 200s move by roughly 2–4 seconds, for example).
I think where it can get blurred is when coaches set a fairly strong “aerobic” pace and then progressively reduce the rest through the set, while still expecting the pace to hold.
What that tends to do is shift a lower-level aerobic set into something much more intense, closer to a power-type demand.
If the objective is an AEC3 set or something like a Rainbow set (a true key set), then there may be justification for that. But if the goal is an AEC1 or A2 type set, then it doesn’t really fit.
You can prescribe short rest, but the pace has to stay appropriately controlled. Lower-level aerobic work doesn’t really sit well as “strong pace + short rest.”
If you want to go further into it, happy to keep the conversation going 😊