2025 has been one of my fastest years as a runner. After the end of my time in university, I didn’t imagine myself getting back up to some of those insanely fast paces. Things like 3-minute k’s seemed well out of reach, as did being competitive in super fast races.
But even just a few weeks into working with Jade in January, I started to prove some of those conceptions wrong.
As the year starts to come to a close, I reflect upon my favourite workouts of 2025.
PRECURSOR
Before beginning, it’s worth noting that I’ve primarily raced on trails this year, sitting in between distances of 30K-50K.
Jade, myself, and even Jade’s coach, all come from a similar school of thought surrounding speed. The belief system is that you can make leaps and bounds of a difference focusing on top-end speed through things like strides, hill strides, and quick but short intervals. In addition to strides multiple times a week, we also incorporate one weekly workout, and additional speed work often integrated into long runs.
This article will only include sessions from that weekly workout.
The other key thing worth noting is that sometimes the specific numbers (repetitions and minutes) aren’t as important as the type of workout category it might fall under (i.e. threshold, tempo, VO2 max, etc.). It’s about periodizing workouts at the right moment leading up to a race, and also about developing a robust aerobic system that incorporates plenty of time incorporating all heart-rate zones – from Zone 1 to Zone 4.
None of these sessions represent any kind of “magic workout” and none of them are inherently better than any others. But we used them strategically at specific points in a season or training block to get positive outcomes. And I enjoyed all of them!
So with that, here are my favourite workouts of 2025.
8. 5-4-3-2-1 HILLS
I think this might be the most common workout formula that Jade gave me in 2025.
It’s a nice one because after each one, it theoretically gets easier.
I don’t think this way, because I love 3-5 minute hills much more than 1-2 minute hills. I think 1-2 minute hills are so much harder!
But I generally like sessions where there is a changing nature to the flow and evolution of a workout. Repeating the same formula of something like 3×8 or 4×5 can get a little monotonous for me at times. I typically find it more fun to game how to pace myself across hill lengths that are different. It keeps the workout more interesting and entertaining!
This one also has a ton of downhill stimulus from the equidistant jog down recovery. And I love the long downhill rest to fuel, and mentally prepare for the next one.
7. 8-6-4-2-1
Everything I said about the 5-4-3-2-1 holds true here, but with more added fun because 8 and 6-minute hills are so much fun given their length. It’s the perfect length of knowing you can hold a certain threshold, without needing to lock into a slower pace to stay present for longer.
Not sure if they invented it or what, but this is a famous workout from Jade’s coach Megan Roche – which she and David call the ‘Hill Beast’, and usually goes 10-8-6-4-2-1. I’ve only ever done 10-8-6-4-2-1 on a treadmill, and I must say, 8-6-4-2-1 on Mountain Highway in North Van = way more fun.
6. 10K TIME TRIAL
Usually I like tempo work a little less than threshold intervals, but I also think there’s a lot of advantages to sending athletes into time trials and giving them a chance to see where they stack up over a certain distance leading into a longer race.
Jade presented the idea to me in early February, which would be my first ever flat workout in B.C.
I really like using time trials like this strategically to get a sense of fitness leading into a race. Especially if the athlete doesn’t have a scheduled practice race before a goal race. So this one resonated with me and came as a unique challenge – to run the fastest 10K I’d run in almost 10 years.
It had been almost 10 years since I even ran a 10K for the purposes of being fast. All of my workouts between 2023-2025 before this were on trails, most of them uphill. So it was brand new to me to run a near race-pace flat effort. And I loved it.
While I think there are plenty of better workouts you could give to an athlete more often than this one, this workout has served as a fantastic benchmark more than any other this season. I still look back on the paces that I ran that day as a reminder of what I can do, and what I can likely do in the future. Having that kind of workout – one that gives you a more memorable and tangible result – is certainly helpful for not just a single block, but an entire season.
5. 5 X 3-MIN UPHILLS
I think 3-minute intervals have a particular magic, especially uphill. On 1-2 minute intervals I feel like I’m giving everything to run fast. On 4+ minute hills, I can’t sustain the same high effort. But 3-minute intervals feel like that happy place between “all out” and needing to be conservative. Especially uphill. It was only 5 x 3 on this day as it was my first bit of speed work after a relapse of a knee injury, and the last bit of speed workout before my first race of the season. But I loved it, ran really well, and chose a great hill for the workout. This is pretty key for all of the workouts featured ahead.
I feel like I can choose any old sustained climb for a session like 8-6-4-2-1 or 5-4-3-2-1. But for all of these workouts below, especially the ones with shorter intervals, the route selection was pretty key.
So I definitely encourage you to both find cool workout spots that you love, and to change it up every once in a while to give yourself a new and fun experience.
4. 5 X 5
This was one of the first (and only) hot workouts of the year, and my first time exploring a little park near the gym I visit.
I didn’t necessarily know what I was going to get out of using the park for 5-minute “flat” intervals, and I lucked out with a fun loop where I could start slightly uphill and then rampage forward slightly downhill in the second half.
I think 5-minute flat intervals hold a similar place to 3-minute hills. It’s long enough that you can’t wreck yourself at your “all out”. It’s also not so long that you’re dialling anything back. The constant fight to keep blazing was so much fun, especially after only a short recovery jog.
3. 10 X 2 MINS ON FLAT
2-minute hills? Dreadful! Really, really tough. 2-minute flat-ground intervals. Really, really fun. Probably because Jade had me do these at 10K pace, which for a 2-minute interval, doesn’t raise the heart-rate all that much or feel terribly difficult to sustain. So I really liked being able to just lock into a comfortable race pace, still going really fast, and then do it all over again after a short 2-minute jog.
I did this workout on a section of the Spirit Trail in North Van, which also ended up being a great little spot to a short loop like this. That definitely helped. I also think both this workout and the last one were aided by being surrounded by people. Maybe I feel cool when people are watching?
I’m not sure! I think there’s something to performing in front of others and having more to scan for, so that you’re constantly locked into what you’re doing. Swerving around dog owners, drivers, cyclists, and whatever else seems to invigorate me more than annoy me, which has probably been a skill I’ve honed over time.
2. 6 X 3, 4 X 1, 8-MIN TEMPO
As you may see as a common trend with the workouts I design for athletes, I love a workout that incorporates several different elements. Getting in a bit of focused threshold or race-specific work, and then something shorter and faster above race-pace or effort.
This workout had it all! It was my first time doing a workout in Halifax on my vacation with my girlfriend, and everything lucked out so perfectly with the hill I chose for the 3-minuters. It ended up featuring a really steep section I could use for the 1-minuters, and then had a park nearby for the 8-minute tempo.
This kind of workout is more fun for me than just saying 10 x 3-minute hills or something like that. For one, I struggle to count to 10 when doing a workout (Jade can attest to this as I found out after the fact that I did 12 x 2 mins on flat in the previous workout without ever realizing).
For another, it’s way tougher to lock into the same pace and effort for that many intervals. Especially on an uphill. So switching it up is just way more fun. Each section of the workout feels like it’s own unique challenge, and something to master. And for whatever reason on this day, I felt like I was flying. Probably the fun workout design.
1. 5-2-3
In addition to being a half-decent soccer structure, this was far and away my favourite workout of 2025. And for similar reasons to the one above.
On this one we did 5-minutes uphill hard, 2-minutes downhill hard, and 3-minutes easy jog.
It’s so rare that you get downhill workouts, because there’s really not much need if you do enough on long runs, trail runs and even just easy jog down recoveries after hill strides or other hill workouts.
So with it being such a rarity, I had so much fun blasting a downhill. But even more fun blasting a downhill immediately after already having given my all on the up. It was such a cool formula to go from fighting to finish strong, to immediately having to turn around and sprint away again.
5-minute hills in general are one of my favourite lengths a hill interval can be, but having that downhill after just made this workout cooler than any other.
What have been your favourite workouts this year? Let me know by sending me a message! And remember that if you take any of these into your own training, they have to be at the right time for your specific race goals.
Thanks for reading and see you soon!
Rhys Desmond 