Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

I've read the other threads on this board, and I've heard conflicting views from several people. I have about a month and a half to train before my high school track season starts, and by doing my normal school program I've run a 23.9 200 and a 54.6 400. I intend on running a 50 second 400, and since the beginning of December I've been doing the following:

Monday: 6 200s 3' rest, lifting
Tuesday: 8 150s 45' rest
Wednesday: 30 minute run, lifting
Thursday: 15 minute fartlek
Friday: 4 300s 2' rest, lifting
Saturday: biking / basketball
Sunday: nothing

Is this the best program I can possibly do? If not, how would you change it? Should I be doing specific drills like lunges, and if so how many and on which days? I'd appreciate it if somebody could give me the best program possible so I can run an outdoor 50 second 400.

Exactly how many weeks does it need to be?  How many years have you run track?

I have until the beginning of February when practice begins, so about six weeks. I've run track since 5th grade.

In 6th grade I ran a 58 quarter, but in 7th I tore up my knees and haven't been as good since.

Do this….

Monday - Acc. Dev. (10-30m reps…fast)
Tuesday - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - Extended warm up and strides (shouldn't take more than 30-45 min)
Thursday - Hills
Friday - Ext. Tempo
Saturday - Intervals or Int. Tempo if you feel you're in shape enough

Do that for 6 weeks as a GPP-like phase to get you prepared for the season.  You'll be in good shape when the season comes around.

I'm sorry, but could you go into a little more detail? How long are the Acc. Dev.'s? What does the Ext. Tempo consist of? How long a warmup do you think is sufficient and how long should these strides be? How many hills are adequate? On Friday, are there any specific intervals I should do and if so how many and at what intensity?

Thanks for your help. If this is all on the elitetrack.com website let me know and I'll look it up myself.

Acc. Dev. - Reps of 10-30m with 1min/10m run rest.  Volume is fairly low and since you have 6 weeks I'd go….200-220-240-260-280-220. 

Ext. Tempo - Reps of 100-600m with short rests, but run at 60-79%.  I'd say go in the 60% range at first since the intervals are already going to be in the 70% range.  volume is very high here so get imaginative.

Warm ups are highly individual and so you don't need a specific formula.  Just do what warms you up adequately.  Just make sure to include a warm up jog, some static stretching, some dynamic stretching, and form work. 

For strides I go for 100m but it's highly individual.  Actually, being early in the season I may cut it down to 60-80m.

Hills are again individual.  I'm lucky to have many different types of hills and such by my house so I can experiment and so I have many different resources.  I'd say look for a hill with a very small incline but that is fairly long and do some sprints up that, or do one with a high incline that's very short and do some sprints up that.  Number of reps, etc., is individual as well. 

As for intervals, it's like ext. tempo, except rest if very short.  Like run 200m, jog 100m and then run 200m again, etc.  The volume can be pretty high again and the pace is in the 70-79% range. 

Hope this helped.

Originally posted by 400Stud
Acc. Dev. - Reps of 10-30m with 1min/10m run rest.  Volume is fairly low and since you have 6 weeks I'd go….200-220-240-260-280-220. 

If I'm running 10-30 meter reps, where do the 200-280 numbers come in? I don't understand what you are talking about here.

I understand everything else, thanks for your help.

Total volume for the session.  200m one week, 220m the next week, etc. etc.

I get it now, thank you. Also, can I incorporate a weight vest and if so when and how much weight should I use?

I don't know much about weight vests so ask around about that.