My goal of sub 4:00 1500-I will not stop until I reach my goal.

1/14

AM:.75 w/u

3x(400 with 1min rest) 59,63,67

.75 c/d

HEre we go again lol. I ran these in flats. I'm happy with my times. Achilles is feeling great.

PM: .5 w/u

2x(1600 with 10min rest)4:38, 5:03

.5 c/d

I just ran a PR for the 1600. I came through the 800 in 2:18, and it felt great. The second 1600 was crappy.

------------------------------------------------------

1/15

AM: .5 w/u

4x(300hard+100jog)

.25 c/d

I had to cut the warm up and cool down short because my roommate and I showed up late this morning to practice, and we both had class at 8....sucky because my morning class got cancelled. ANyways, it was a good workout. The first one was a 41. I do not know the others.

eddylee wrote:

1/14

AM:.75 w/u

3x(400 with 1min rest) 59,63,67

.75 c/d

HEre we go again lol. I ran these in flats. I'm happy with my times. Achilles is feeling great.

PM: .5 w/u

2x(1600 with 10min rest)4:38, 5:03

.5 c/d

I just ran a PR for the 1600. I came through the 800 in 2:18, and it felt great. The second 1600 was crappy.

------------------------------------------------------

1/15

AM: .5 w/u

4x(300hard+100jog)

.25 c/d

I had to cut the warm up and cool down short because my roommate and I showed up late this morning to practice, and we both had class at 8....sucky because my morning class got cancelled. ANyways, it was a good workout. The first one was a 41. I do not know the others.

PM: .75 w/u

1x1200

.75 c/d

I came through the 800 in 211, and I finished in 3:21(pr). I did not do the second one because my achilles was hurting a tiny bit. My coach told me if I notice any signs of reoccurance then just stop...so I did.

1/16

AM: .75 w/u

5x(500m accelerations on grass continuous)

.5 c/d

eddylee too much speed. You have made great progress, and I think it is related to the specificity of the workouts as previously discussed. Trust me, your achilles are at great risk right now.

Keep focused on the 1200s-you've really improved. But no more 500m accelerations in the morning.

Read my post on the first page about another training plan. You will be interested.

another canuck wrote:

Your 800 speed suggests that you can do it, but you are right on the edge. I would incorporate 3x1200 as a core workout (once every 7-10 days) and start at 3:24 with 3-4 min rest and work down to 3:18. If you can get there, go to 3x800 in 2:10 with 2-3 min rest. Finally, and this is my best predictor workout- 1200 3:15, 4 min rest; 400-600-400 90 sec rest at 64 pace.

If you keep your distance up this should also lead to a great 3k. Aim higher than 9:55 Good luck

I can't just say, "Coach, I am doing my own training."

If I was redshirting or competing unattached, then I would reorganize my training scedule.

We have another guy on our team that has shin splints on both of his legs. They are pretty bad too. Hopefully everything will be ok in the end.

I know for a fact that we are going to switch things up next week. We are going to add more distance to our training, but add more speed. So, probably more 200-400s, but back off the longer repeats a bit and some distance runs.

Eddylee,

What kind of program are you in where they actually hire and support a coach that utilizes this type of training? It's almost embarrassing to read some of this stuff and see how you'll never run under 4 for 1500 because you have absolutely zero distance stimulus in your training plan. Please tell me this isn't a Division 1 school or I might cry.

Some crazy stuff indeed. No distance runs, it's just on track, twice a day, every day.

McChoud wrote:

Eddylee,

What kind of program are you in where they actually hire and support a coach that utilizes this type of training? It's almost embarrassing to read some of this stuff and see how you'll never run under 4 for 1500 because you have absolutely zero distance stimulus in your training plan. Please tell me this isn't a Division 1 school or I might cry.

McChoud wrote:

Eddylee,

What kind of program are you in where they actually hire and support a coach that utilizes this type of training? It's almost embarrassing to read some of this stuff and see how you'll never run under 4 for 1500 because you have absolutely zero distance stimulus in your training plan. Please tell me this isn't a Division 1 school or I might cry.

Apparently the coach at CSU Bakersfield. I googled the schedule. They match.

Had a pretty solid day today - in prep for the 800 on friday.

45 minutes wu/cd, 6mi

600, rest 30, 200 x 3, 10-12 rest.

1:32, 29

1:35, 30

1:33, 28

We are trying to have a little peak for indoors. So, all of this speed stuff makes more sense. I am sure that when outdoor comes around we will go through another cycle. I am running faster than I have ever have before. It seems to be working. I trust him to lead me to my goals.

Here's the coach:

http://www.gorunners.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=58116&SPID=6327&DB_OEM_ID=13300&ATCLID=682711&Q_SEASON=2007

An electrician who once set a school record in the 800...in high school. Wonderful.

And I'm guessing this is our man:

http://www.gorunners.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=58118&SPID=6327&DB_OEM_ID=13300&ATCLID=897258&Q_SEASON=2007

If you're serious about developing as a runner, I would consider a transfer (the education at CSU Bakersfield can't be that good), or running unattached with a local club (which I'm not sure if Bakersfield has). This guy has you on the track twice a day preparing for a couple meaningless indoor meets at altitude; that is nothing short of ridiculous.

I would stay at this school. Hot damn.

Same. I would sand bag the workouts. I mean 2x1600? The workout will be over before anyone knows you are faking and you'll only have put 3-4 miles on your legs.

It'd be easy to head out in the night, finish the workout, and then maybe call those ladies for a study session.

Well, I clicked on those links (of the coach and the girls) and I have to say that those are three very attractive college students ... and one clueless coach.

Eddy Lee is doomed. The coach has no clue about periodization and no clue about distance training. Eddy doesn't either. Not enough to do anything about it.

I faced the same thing in high school a couple times. Our coach was the head track coach and some of the events had sub-coaches (sprints, jumps, and throws had their own) but the head coach made the schedule for the mid-distance runners (400-800 according to him) and the D-runners (1600-3200).

We had the same schedule every week:

M: 4-6 x 400m, 1 mi WU, 1 mi CD

T: 3-4 mi easy run

W: 4-6 x 400m, 1 mi WU, 1 mi CD

Th: 3-4 mi easy run

F: 1 mi WU, go home to rest for indoor meet the next day

Sat: indoor meet

Su: off

The damnedest thing was that the MD guys got 4 x 400 and 3 mi easy, and the D-runners got (you guessed it) 6 x 400 and 4 miles easy.

The funniest thing was that some of us were really 3200-specialist and not very good at the 800/1600 and so we asked if we could run 2 mi WU and 2 mi CD and do maybe 8-12 x 400. Coach said, "No, you 2-milers just run the reps slower!"

Even I knew (at 16) that this was retarded.

Our coach that season was (of course) the head assistant Football coach ... and ... wait for it ... the school record holder at his HS for the 800m.

Eventually I tactfully offered him a book about the "Oregon System" that was pretty good for training milers and after that our schedule looked just like that book.

It wasn't perfect but it was better than running his underacheiver schedule of 20 mpw and constant intervals that produced staleness.

Good luck Eddy.

1/17

AM: .75 w/u

2x1200 dirt loops with 5min recovery.

.75 c/d

I did them in 3:45 and 3:48.

Ah, the power of Letsrun detective work. All of those links no longer work and if you go to CSU Bakersfield and try clicking on the Athletics link, nothing happens.

Nothing like outing a crappy coach only to have him have his school's whole athletics website put down for a while.

This coach doesn't have too many plays in his playbook.

I was about at Eddy's level when I was a junior in HS, during the indoor season. I made it to 4:26 for the 1600 that winter, after having run 9:50 for 3200 the Spring before.

We ran no faster than 5:00-pace in any training. We were just doing 5, 7 and 10 mile runs mostly. Every other day was FAST, like 5:15-5:45 depending on the distance. Sometimes we did 6 x 3:00 or something like that ... at 5:00 pace.

I ran 12-17 miles on Sundays at easy pace. I also ran some in the mornings that the others didn't, or I swam three times a week in the mornings. The others ran less (or not at all) on weekends.

We were all 4:20-4:40 milers and some of us were 800/1600 specialists and some 16/32 ... but we all ran ZERO intervals until the first outdoor meet in mid-March.

We raced usually one weeknight and a road race or an indoor meet on Saturday morning. But we just used this as our "VO2max" type training and it was done at 4:30 pace to 5:00 pace (depended on whether you were racing the mile or 2 mile). We never rested more than just running 5 miles the day before and we still lifted weights.

So we might have three "races" in a week, like Tues (indoor), Thur (indoor) and Sat (2-10 mile road race), or you might have ONE or NONE. But only 5-15 minutes a week at race-pace.

We were able to produce this that spring:

1:56 800 runner (won Regionals)

1:57/4:19 runner (won Regionals and was fifth at State 1600)

4:26 indoor/ 9:26 outdoor

2:00 runner (tried 800 for the first time)

1:59.9 relay split (again - had run the 400 for three years)

2:02/4:34 (ran on an 8:05 relay team)

2:04/4:34

We did our fair share of intervals once Spring came around, but you can't build that fitness FOREVER. About 8-10 weeks is the best you can do when you are improving it. This is RUNNING 101.

Woohoo! First race of this semester was today. We ran a 4x800 at the Armory in NYC today to qualify for ECACs. Ended up doing really well - 7:56.73 and rolled quite a few good schools (though they were probably not running their best men) to finish 3rd overall. I ran 1:58.9 for pretty close to a PR. Yaaaaaay!

good job!