The Descending Ladders Workout

Descending ladders are a good all-around workout designed to sustain a good red-line pace. As you tire, the intervals grow shorter. Which means you have no excuse to slow down!

These are great in workouts are short as a half marathon and as long as a marathon. Some even say it's good for distances beyond the marathon too. Works well with the swim and the bike in a triathlon as well.

Let's get some iterations of the Descending Ladders set and what it targets.


Target #1: Half Marathon

1) 2 Miles (3200m) at (Half Marathon Pace - 15 seconds), 3 minutes (or 400 easy jog) for recovery.
2) 1 Mile (1600m) at (Half Marathon Pace - 20 seconds), 2 minutes (or 200 easy jog) for recovery.
3) 800m at (Half Marathon Pace - 25 seconds), 1 minute (or 100 easy jog) for recovery.
4) 400m sprint to the finish!


Target #2: Marathon

1) 1x2 Miles (3200m) at (Half Marathon Pace), 3 minutes (or 400 easy jog) for recovery.
2) 2xMile (1600m) at (Half Marathon Pace - 5 seconds), 2 minutes (or 200 easy jog) for recovery.
3) 3x800m at (Half Marathon Pace - 10 seconds), 2 minutes (or 200 easy jog) for recovery.
4) 4x400m at (Half Marathon Pace - 15 seconds), 1 minute (or 100 easy jog) for recovery.


Descending Sets can be rigged for ultrarunning too! The pace is a bit different though, and these can be done on trails as well as the track; that is why intervals are based on time instead of distance. Here is one for a trail 50K:

1) 1x 20 minutes - perceived effort of 6 (aerobic but not quite red-line pace). 5 minutes walk for rest.
2) 1x 15 minutes - perceived effort of 7 (approaching red-line pace). 4 minutes walk for rest.
3) 1x10 minutes - perceived effort of 7-8 (red-line pace). 3 minutes walk for rest
4) 2x5 minutes - perceived effort of 8 (touching on anaerobic). 2 minutes walk for rest.



Here are some triathlon related descending sets:

Bike

1) 1x 30 minutes at 300 Watts (or perceived effort of 7). 5 minutes easy spin for recovery.
2) 1x15 minutes at 320 watts (perceived effort of 8). 4 minutes easy spin for recovery.
3) 1x10 minutes at 330 Watts (perceived effort of 9). 3 minutes easy spin for recovery.
4) 1x 5 minutes all out sprint (perceived effort of 10)!


Swim

1) 1x500m at perceived effort of 6. 1 minute rest.
2) 1x400m at perceived effort of 7. 45 seconds rest.
3) 1x300m at perceived effort of 7-8. 30 seconds rest.
4) 1x200m at perceived effort of 8. 20 seconds rest.
5) 1x100m all out!

There are so many ways to incorporate these into your training, and they work very well with a lot of the targeted endurance races you're looking to excel at this year.

Here are some references to more ladders:

https://www.triathlete.com/2015/09/training/one-hour-workout-descending-5k10k-run-ladder_121606

https://running.pocketoutdoormedia.com/workout-of-the-week-descend-the-ladder_51854

https://www.triathlete.com/2013/02/training/one-hour-workout-bike-lactate-ladder_70418

There are a lot more on the web. Just Google "descending ladders" and either bike, swim, run, or triathlon, and you'll get plenty of good workouts for the distance you're looking for. Good luck!!!