Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

I need some winter training workouts for the middle distance events 800-1600m mostly.  Me and some team mates are just finishing up cross country season and dont have a winter track team and would like to keep in shape for spring.  For many of us its our senior season and we have big goals in mind.  For the 800 we all have PR's around 2:10 very close.  For the mile runners we have PRs just below 5 flat.  I'll be running the open 400m as well as one other runner but its not as big of a focus as I am only coming in around 54.5 at best and he around 58.  Heres some sample workouts i thought could be okay.. im just looking for some advice.  (I would like to drop to Sub 4:40 miles)

monday-40min run
tuesday-3(800's) at 5k pace  (rest?) 2(400)at 5k pace 4(150's) start slow, then sprint
wednesday-20min run then.. we like to play ultimate frisbee until were tired
thursday- 40min run- 100cycle sprint every 5 minutes
friday- some light speedworkout ?
saturday- easy day (like wednesday)

any ideas?

Thanks for looking
       -Dave :bouncy:

The Tuesday workout seems way too easy….it looks like something straight out of a Runner's World magazine. 5k pace is very slow for half milers and doing intervals at that pace won't be too beneficial as it's too slow to develop speed, speed endurance or lactate threshold and doesn't offer the aerobic benefits of a longer or harder continuous run.

I can see what you are saying, although it is off season training.  Thanks for the pointer.. so are you suggesting things like maybe, some 200's, some 400's ?

800s at 5k pace is OK if: you are doing a bunch of them and you keep the rest between fairly short.

I like the idea of varying distances during a workout.  One thing I always do is increase the pace as the interval distance decreases.

So, it might look something like this

3 x 800 @ 5k pace with 400 jog recovery
4 x 400 @ 1600 pace with 200 jog recovery
6 x 200 @ 800 pace with 200 recovery
8 x 100 @ 400 pace with 100 meter jog back recovery

6K in volume at those speeds is a killer, how often would you suggest doing this workout and how long do you think it will take to complete?  Also, what is recovery between distance changes?

That was just an example to illustrate the notion of increasing speed with the reduction of distance in a reverse ladder workout.  That's not a workout I would do all that often actually unless it was a 1600/800 runner.  It might be a once every 3 week type of volume.  You can adjust it down to 1-2-3-4 to accomodate the fitness level/experience of the athlete if need be. 

When the distance changes, I usually go with the recovery of the distance you just ran as I want to make sure that the athlete is sufficiently recovered to be able to jack the pace up.

KW - 11 November 2005 09:34 AM

800s at 5k pace is OK if: you are doing a bunch of them and you keep the rest between fairly short.

Joe had me do my 800s at 5k, and have around 2 minute recoveries.  I only did 4x800 in the spring sessions, and it gets bumped up to 4000m of 5k paced stuff this spring.  Very conservative yes, but it brought results around.

wsgeneral - 20 November 2005 09:20 AM

KW - 11 November 2005 09:34 AM

800s at 5k pace is OK if: you are doing a bunch of them and you keep the rest between fairly short.

Joe had me do my 800s at 5k, and have around 2 minute recoveries. I only did 4x800 in the spring sessions, and it gets bumped up to 4000m of 5k paced stuff this spring. Very conservative yes, but it brought results around.

What was your event though? By the sounds of your post (esp. 4,000m) it wasn't the 800m which is what I was specifically referring to.

I'm an 800/1600m man.  Mike, I'm also not sure I understand what you mean by, "By the sounds of your post (esp. 4,000m) it wasn't the 800m which is what I was specifically referring to."

Sub 4:40, 70s 1/4s have to feel like a jog, a 2:20 half has be relaxed and 3:30 thru 3/4 you have to be under or have a lot left in the tank. 

Start figuring out the pace of 35s per 200m and what it feels like in up and down a ladder(s) of significant volume.  An easier one to start with is 200-400-600-600-400-200 x 2.  Its a 3 mile workout roughly but its easier to stick to the pace with 200m walk recovery.

wsgeneral - 20 November 2005 03:07 PM

I'm an 800/1600m man. Mike, I'm also not sure I understand what you mean by, "By the sounds of your post (esp. 4,000m) it wasn't the 800m which is what I was specifically referring to."

I was assuming you weren't an 800m guy by the workout you gave. I just thought that that type of workout seemed too moderate in both intensity and total volume to be of real value for a half miler.