Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

In track training, most of our workouts are centered around distances. Run 6 x 200m, 8 x 150m, etc. This makes good sense and is easy to standardize, make comparisons, and track the progress of training. The problem though is that success in track is judged by time not distance. So I was thinking…what if you made all (or some) of your workouts time based rather than distance based. While I alrea
 
Continue reading…

I like the concept a lot.  Tough with big groups, but perfect for individual sessions.  Many testing protocols, instead of running a 300m run will do a 45 second run for distance.

This is a more specific way of training energy systems for different sexes as well.  A “special endurance 300” for a 46 second 400m runner is a very different workout than it is for a 54 second 400 runner.

We often choose our rep distance based on the energy system we want to hit, I think this allows for more specificity.

A great idea….almost.

If you had individual blood panels for a baseline and as well at various levels of intensity/fatigue…then running-time as opposed to distances run could be argued to be a more effective means of training from sprints thru middle distance.

Even lacking that data, there are some workouts that run by time as opposed to distance.
I seem to recall John Smith (I think) telling of a 400m workout and Russ Ebbets has a timed workout that predicts a following weeks races likely finish time for a 1500 or a 3000.

At the least, it would make for a change of pace (no pun)

we did something like this once in college.

we did a 45 second timed run all out.

the only person to come close was Lashawn Merrit who made it like 395 meters.

I made 360 meters and i believe one or two others did around the same with 2nd place going about 380 meters.

The problem with this workout is, that you CANT do it 4-5 times a practice. If you do, you certainly cant do it very often.

I remember feeling as if i was gonna die afterward. This practice ranks right up there with the broken 400s (run 300 all out, rest 30 seconds, run 100 all out)

it takes everything out of an athlete and so the next 2 days are basically used as recovery days.

how do you work around that when you have 2 full season to compete in.

we did this in the Fall once, and also did the broken 400s maybe twice before the season started.

i know a couple programs do this (runs all out for time) but its not something they continue to do throughout the season.

and i personally loved the workout, but coach saw that too many athletes wound up bruised up afterward and needing too long to recover so he decided not to do it again…

I have also though about this at numerous times over the years, we have used it mostly in testing of very high intensity SE work Ie 3 x 17 sec runs for females in the 11.4-12.0 range. It can make things very competitve in a slightly different way as you putting markers out for each person and they keep trying to beat the others marks.
I think we can introduce runs in the following order to allow for gradual intensification: (speed development example)
60m individual and slightly submax
60m individual timed 100%
7 sec runs for distance
60m time trial (individual)
60m training competition with opponent
60m low key meet
60m important competition

I’m gonna see how far I run in 9.66 seconds (minus the chest beating) and try to extend it over time to somewhere near 100m.

...snd maybe Santa will lend me his sled so that I can improve my stiffness and stride length.

rican hurdler - 19 December 2008 06:46 PM

we did something like this once in college.

we did a 45 second timed run all out.

the only person to come close was Lashawn Merrit who made it like 395 meters.

I made 360 meters and i believe one or two others did around the same with 2nd place going about 380 meters.

The problem with this workout is, that you CANT do it 4-5 times a practice. If you do, you certainly cant do it very often.

I remember feeling as if i was gonna die afterward. This practice ranks right up there with the broken 400s (run 300 all out, rest 30 seconds, run 100 all out)

it takes everything out of an athlete and so the next 2 days are basically used as recovery days.

how do you work around that when you have 2 full season to compete in.

we did this in the Fall once, and also did the broken 400s maybe twice before the season started.

i know a couple programs do this (runs all out for time) but its not something they continue to do throughout the season.

i would think that the point of a 45 second run would be SE anyways, so you should only run it once or twice a workout anyways.  i think time training would work well for high intensity, but not so much for tempo.

A well respected 400m coach (nicknamed kitkat) uses these as a staple of his training year round. He primarily uses them during hill work, having his athlete run a (approx.) 300m hill. The time works out to about their 400m time. He also does something he calls “overtime” instead of “overdistance” using the same hill. The run for 10 - 20 seconds over their normal 400m time, although the distance is not really overdistance.

I think it’s a good idea. The guys over at wannagetfast have been doing this for a while and I believe they recommend ~30 second sprints because that’s when lactic acid peaks, or something like that. Also DB Hammer recommended sprints using time and then determining drop-off by distance. Like Mike said, this is a great way to literally see how close you are to your goal if you’re using your desired time as the interval for your sprint.

I think a coach should use both time and distance.  It’s hard to fit this into a short sprinters routine, but what’s wrong with using 15s, 20s, or 25s for time when working special endurance or speed endurance.  This is the best way to self-regulate workouts for athletes when working alone or without a coach on site.  I still think tempo endurance is best worked over specific distances to keep intensity in check and gives the coach an accurate measure of volume.

I really think using time is important for a coach who works 2 or more event groups because of the self-regulation involved.

well if DB Hammer recommended it, what more needs to be said?

mortac8 - 20 December 2008 07:30 PM

well if DB Hammer recommended it, what more needs to be said?

This happens to be its only drawback.

I think this guy recommends it too

I did a timed run last year with a couple of modestly gifted HS 400 runners who were having trouble really attacking the first part of the race.

I told them to go hard and that I would yell stop at 37 seconds, wanting to stop them just short the big lactate hit.  Both ended up much further down the track then they thought they would be.  This made them much more confident to attack the first 200 and especially the second turn, and in their next race, they both PR’d by over a second.

I think I’ll do this once or twice this year with all of the 400 kids to see if it will have the same effect

Wolfgang Meier used time for 400m runners from time to time. Pierre Jean would be a good resource as Marie Jose Perec used Meier. Workouts like running 177m (exact numbers are recorded but not on me) were used because he was trying to ensure given velocities were maintained. The biochemistry was secondary and Coach Meire was a naval engineer.