12 Aerobic Capacity Track Workouts

The following workouts are designed to increase your aerobic capacity and build endurance. Use these running workouts to become a better athlete. Running is an essential part of fitness, drop on your endurance training and you’ll have a gap in your fitness. Running improves endurance and thus, aids you to build a bigger engine and increase your VO2 max.

 Pacing is based on an individual effort which is broken down as follows:

• Recovery Pace (40% effort): pace you can sustain indefinitely.
• Easy Pace (50-65% effort): pace you can sustain for 60 minutes (10k run).
• Moderate Pace (65-75% effort): pace you can hold for 20-30 minutes (5k run).
• Hard Pace (75-85% effort): pace you can hold for 5-8 minutes (1600m or 1 mile run).
• Very Hard Pace (85-95% effort): pace you can hold for 3-5 minutes (800m run).
• Max Pace (100% effort): 100-200m sprint.

Running Workouts

It can take many forms; from intense sprints to longer, steady runs, which will work on different systems within your body. Improving your endurance and cardiovascular ability through running will see you perform better in a broad range of workouts.

Give these a try:

Workout 1

3 Rounds

Run 800m @ easy pace (60% effort)
Run 400m @ recovery pace
Run 400m @ moderate pace (70% effort)
Run 400m @ recovery pace
Run 200m @ hard pace (80% effort)
Run 400m @ recovery pace

Rest 5 min between rounds

Workout 2

Run

1600m
-rest 4 min-
1200m
-rest 3 min-
800m
-rest 2 min-
400m
-rest 1 min-
200m

Athletes Notes: For every interval you alternate running 200m @ hard pace (80% effort) and 200m @ easy pace (60% effort)

Workout 3

2 Rounds
Run 800m
-rest 4 min-

3 Rounds
Run 600m
-rest 3 min-

4 Rounds
Run 400m
-rest 2 min-

Workout 4

Run

3 x (500 easy + 300 fast) – no rest between distances or sets
-rest 3 min-
3 x (400 easy + 200 fast) – no rest between distances or sets
-rest 3 min-
3 x (300 easy + 100 fast) – no rest between distances or sets

Workout 5

3 Rounds

Run 800m
-rest 1 min-
Run 600m
-rest 1 min-
Run 400m
-rest 1 min-
Run 200m
-rest 1 min-

Rest 3 min between rounds

Workout 6

20 Rounds

Run 400m

Rest as needed between rounds.

Athletes Notes: Choose a pace you can maintain for all 20 rounds. This is 8000m in total distance.

Workout 7

3 Rounds

4:00 Run @ easy pace
1:00 walk
2:00 Run @ moderate pace
1:00 walk
1:00 Run @ hard pace
1:00 walk
:30 run @ very hard pace

Rest 3 minutes between rounds.

Workout 8

Run

4 x (300m + rest 15 seconds + 200m) rest 1 min b/t sets
-rest 4 min-
2 x (400m Run + rest 20 seconds + 200m Run) rest 1 min b/t sets
-rest 3 min-
1 x 600m Run

Workout 9

3 Rounds

Run 400m
-rest 15 sec-
Run 400m
-rest 15 sec-
Run 400m
-rest 15 sec-
Run 400m

Rest 3 minutes between rounds.

Workout 10

3 Rounds

Run 500m @ hard pace
-rest 1 min-
Run 300m @ very hard pace

Rest 4 minutes between rounds.

Workout 11

3 Rounds

Run 300m @ moderate pace
-rest 90 seconds-
Run 300m @ hard pace
-rest 90 seconds-
Run 300m @ very hard pace

Rest 4 minutes between rounds.

Workout 12

8 Rounds

100m @ sprint (100% effort)
300m @ recovery pace

No rest between rounds.

Workout 13 (Bonus)

3 Rounds

100m @ sprint (100% effort)
100m @ recovery pace
100m @ sprint (100% effort)
100m @ recovery pace
100m @ sprint (100% effort)

Rest 5 minutes between rounds.