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RunVO2max

The Zátopek 400s Day (Scaled)

A historical curiosity, scaled: 3 × 10 × 400 m

Time
≈2h01
Hard
≈51:57
in zones 4–5
Difficulty
Very hardDifficulty 4 of 5 — Very hard
Inspired by
Emil Zátopek

What we typed

Warm up 15 min easy. 10 × (400 m at 10K effort, 200 m easy jog). 5 min easy. 10 × (400 m at 10K effort, 200 m easy jog). 5 min easy. 10 × (400 m at 10K effort, 200 m easy jog). Cool down 10 min easy.

Fit File Forge built the steps below from these words — the same steps your watch gets.

Describe your own

The session

10 steps

Warm up

easy

15 minZ2
10×400 m

Rep

10K effort

400 mZ4

Jog

200 mZ1

Jog

easy

5 minZ1
10×400 m

Rep

10K effort

400 mZ4

Jog

200 mZ1

Jog

easy

5 minZ1
10×400 m

Rep

10K effort

400 mZ4

Jog

200 mZ1

Cool down

easy

10 minZ1

Targets

Set by race effort. Your paces follow from your threshold pace — about what you could race for an hour.

10K effort

Save it and race efforts become your own paces, from your profile or your Garmin training. Without them every rep keeps its effort cue.

Scaled version

2 sets of 8 × 400 m.

Build the scaled version in Forge

About this session

The story

Emil Zátopek often completed as many as 100 × 400 m repetitions in a day. Nobody should copy that. This is a scaled homage: thirty reps in three sets.

What it trains

Aerobic power and the patience of high-volume interval work.

Who it's for

Experienced runners looking for a big, variety-free volume day. Treat it as a once-in-a-while challenge.

Sources 1
  1. Marking the centenary of the birth of Zatopek — World Athletics, 2022

I've been using the AI Training Coach from day 1 for marathon prep and have found it to be a huge step up from ChatGPT/Gemini — I couldn't be happier.

Dave F.Marathon athlete

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