What’s cross-country star Luc Bruchet’s favourite workout?

For many fans of the sport, Luc Bruchet’s name has quickly been climbing to the top of the list of favourite Canadian runners. The athlete was the first across the finish line of the men’s 10K at the Canadian Cross-Country Championships in Kingston over the weekend. He took first place with a speedy 30:20.02 to beat star athletes Eric Gillis and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot. 

RELATED: 2017 Canadian Cross-Country results

We asked Bruchet to share with us one of the workouts that helps him achieve this kind of success. Want to run fast like this cross-country champion? This is Bruchet’s favourite workout that built him up this season:

The workout

Head to the track and try 20 x 400m with 60 seconds of rest in between each interval. Bruchet says that in the 60-second break, he and his training partners usually jog for about 100m or 120m before starting the next rep. One tip from Bruchet: start each interval in the same spot and do the jog out-and-back during the rest time. 

“This particular workout is a great blend of both aerobic strength while still touching some speed,” he says. “Coach usually classifies this as a speed-endurance session. Being a 5000m runner, it’s necessary to have both speed and strength and this session really allows you to hit both systems.”

If testing out this workout, the goal should be to run it at about 3,000m pace. In the early stages, this won’t feel too quick but once past the halfway point, runners will have to reign in the focus to maintain this pace. By the end, the total volume is eight kilometres worth of quality, hard running. Bruchet says he tends to do this workout two or three times in a calendar year. He knows he’s in great shape when he can average about 62 seconds for all 20.