Well, my intention to post up on this thread before now never happened. Got on a roll with other writing and just ran with it. Not to worry, it was always my intention to come to this as soon as time allowed. Let's take a crack at it ...
This is a neat little question: quite insidious. Could end up writing a whole book as an answer, but won't. Let's get to it, and assume that since the OP is young enough (he has career-time), and passionate enough, he really should go the whole Seb Coe route, which means gym-work, plyos, hills along with speed and coordination work. The whole catastrophe! As a coach, you love it when someone like this comes along.
First of all, let me just point out that this is not a Hadd-personal-training thread. It is not my intention to spend much time on this, just show you some of the things I would have the OP do if he were here training with us. So, the minutiae, the details, I won't get down to, but I will give a good general overview of how we'd approach it. Indeed, this will probably be my only post in this thread. We'll see.
As ever, if you would approach it differently, if you or your coach does/does not agree with one word of what follows, that's fine with me. Just go ahead and do what works for you. As is known, there are many successful approaches to training/coaching. What follows is mine, and I post it here for no better reason than it works.
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Gym work. You cannot run fast if your posterior chain is weak (lower back, glutes, hamstrings, calf muscles), and being you are an ST who has been focussing on 10k but can only hit 65-secs for 400m, it's gonna be a given that you fall into that category.
There are a number of tests we would have you do to determine how weak you are in this area: vertical jump, broad jump into a sand pit ... An old Bill Rodgers anecdote comes to mind here, he remarked that he knew when he was in good marathon shape, his vertical jump would fall to near zero! That makes sense, and since you are intending to go in the other direction and race 800m, your VJ (as a measure of leg power) should improve significantly.
Like I said, we test to see if you are basically lacking in leg strength, or what we'd call "spring". Or both. As a rough guide, we'd want to get you to where you can full squat between (bodyweight) BW and 1.25 x BW (or more). It's not unknown to find ST's who cannot even squat 60-70% BW on day one. More strength training exercises below.
We'd also want to get your VJ up to ~45-50 cm as a lower limit, but would not be surprised to find you unable to jump 40 cm on day one. I've tested some local footballers and found > 70 cm, so these are not stellar values we are trying to get you to reach; you are an ST and there's only so much we can do. But (coupled to your endurance) every little helps.
Example resistance-training exercises (I shouldn't need to give a whole routine, but these are a few of those you want to master):
Full Squat — Make sure you descend down to parallel or below (ie: your hip bone is closer to the ground than your knee). Perform for 8-12 repetitions per set (in an 12-rep set, lift a weight you can only squat 12 times. If you can squat 15 reps with this weight, the weight is too light).
Deadlift — (be very careful here until you learn the correct technique) concentrate on pushing down thru your heels squeezing with your glutes and hamstrings to pull the bar up. Again 8-12 reps per set.
Lunges — Hold a dumbell in each hand, descend until the back knee touches the floor and then return to the start position. Again 8-12 reps per set.
Single-leg calf raises —
Example plyometric exercises (be creative, and look for explosive movement)
Paused Jump Squat — Use a barbell load ~15-30% of your full squat (above). Don't drop below parallel this time, pause at the bottom for 3 seconds and then explode upwards as high as possible. Perform 5-8 reps per set.
Alternating Split-Squat Jump — Dumbbells in each hand, or barbell over the shoulders. Stand with your feet staggered about 18 to 24 inches apart, front and back. Squat down then jump up as high as poss and while in the air quickly switch legs. Land and absorb the impact softly by bending both legs until the back knee is about an inch from the ground. Repeat. Perform 8-10 reps per set.
Standing broad jumps into sandpit — Jump as far out as you can for distance. Perform 3-5 reps per set.
Box jumps ... (as many possibilities as can be imagined)
Speed / coordination
When it comes to coordination/speed, if we were to do this by email there would be a problem. Because when it comes to making an ST faster at 800m, I rely greatly on my observation of the runner involved. I'd want to see how you move. With experience I have found that young runners who have come up through the 400-800-1500 range during high school and into college, move quite well (usually due to efficiency learned thru countless hours of interval training).
On the other hand, if I have someone coming into the sport later; having started as a jogger and only later discovering an aptitude for distance, I tend to find that their foot-mechanics are not optimal (could be big heel-strikers), as they come from a jogging background and may never have run an interval session in their life. Consequently, if they have discovered some talent on the road at 5-10k, I even find they have never run substantially faster than 5k pace at any time in their life before now.
So, most likely, whoever you are, I'd spend the first session watching you run, and then get you to take your shoes off and do some short mechanical work barefoot on the artificial-turf infield. The shoes-off deal is because the thick heels/soles on today's shoes permit the runner to land with a heavier heel strike than he/she would normally adopt when barefoot. The shock of a barefoot heel-strike tends to act as a wake-up call to most runners and simply the act of being barefoot promotes them to adopt a more natural mid-foot footstrike without me saying a word. I would then have them complete a series of drills/mechanical runs over 20-40m with lots of feedback from me till I can see that they are taking the ideas onboard. This might take 1-2 sessions, then we try and translate that movement pattern to the track, always with my observation and feedback.
The OP talks of not lifting his knees enough, and this is a common comment from STs. Let me give a simple example of one way we might counter this. It is important that the runner does not just learn how to move while constantly relying on my feedback for approval. What would they do when I'm not there? We've found that it helps if they have a mental concept / construct they can call up on which to base the required motor pattern so that they know they are running efficiently without relying on my feedback.
This not-lifting-the-knees flaw we get them to overcome by getting them to imagine that they are not running over flat terrain, but that they are running up a very gentle stairway and they are to imagine that each stair is only 1-2 inches higher than the one before. This mental clue is often enough to remind them/encourage them to bring their knee through higher than normal on each stride. Try it out. In your mind, the flat of each stair is deep enough that one exact footstrike can be comfortably made on each one ... but the next stair up is 1-2 inches higher (not more), even a mental image of 1 inch higher per stair is often enough for that slight change in biomechanics to occur, we're not trying to turn you into a sprinter (whom we'd have run over very low hurdles).
There are as many drills as there are runners. The above is simply one example in response to a specific complaint. How I would coach each individual would depend on the "problem(s)" I identify. It doesn't tend to take long: I can get most people moving better / more efficiently within one session. From the turf we might move onto track work over 30-60-80m till you learn how to move ... We need to stop you running like a 10k runner and have you moving like an 800m runner should move.
Anyway, once you are hitting the ground better (and we cannot really work on that aspect of training without me seeing you), we need to translate that into some quicker running on a regular basis so that you embed that improved motor programme. We don't want you looking like you are flat-out sprinting at 800m pace (which you would if you ran one today).
There was an old (1984?) paper by Conley and Krahenbuhl (both highly interested in running economy/efficiency at that time) of them following and regularly testing Steve Scott over the course of a season and noted that his economy at race pace improved something like 5% following intense interval training (I'm going off memory here and it's an age since I read that paper). Scott added such interval training on to a distance base prior to race season. We have found that FT's can do this in short order because their anaerobic capacity is quite strong. An ST"s is not. If an ST gets too far away from speed for too long a period of time it takes an age to get it back, so it's better/safer with an ST to include a little-and-often, throughout the whole year.
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What we do is this:
You may have seen me write elsewhere that before the main sessions, I like runners to warm-up with easy jogging for 10-15 mins, complete the stretching routine I give them, and then complete the warm-up with a series of 100-100s.
100-100s can be thought of as stride-the-straights-jog-the-bends, but the design changes depending on the ST vs FT qualities of the individual. STs tend to have a naturally low anaerobic capacity (esp if they come from a jogging background, as explained), while FTs tend to have a moderate-to-strong anaerobic capacity. This is each runner's capacity to break down carbohydrate anaerobically; we want to increase their rate of anaerobic glycolysis. In the science this is written VLamax or PLamax, or the maximal lactate production rate)
FT's I generally get to run 100m (straight) at 800-1500m pace and jog the bends in 35-45 secs (shorter is better, but we don't push it, this is not the main session). For FT's the recovery must be active (jogging).
To work their VLamax ST's need more recovery than 100m jog in 40s. Less active/more passive recovery is even better. So for an ST, I would have them run 100s at 400-800m pace (which I'll get to in a bit). and either walk 50m and jog 50m, or even walk the 100m bend between each 100m straight. There's no rush on the recovery; the pace of the 100m straights is paramount in an ST.
So, for FT's these 100-100s don't have to be that quick since they already have a good VLamax (ie: that is not their weakness), but for ST's they do have to be run quickly, and passive (walking instead of jogging) is a better recovery. The 100m straights are not meant to be all-out, but pretty close.
Here's how to check;
At any time the runner should be able to run one of the 10 x 100m straights approx 1 sec faster than the average of the others. if he/she cannot do this on demand, then the 10 x 100m average pace is too fast and should be slowed fractionally.
Neither should they be too slow: if the runner can insert one rep all-out at 2 secs faster than the other 10 x 100 reps, then they are too slow. There is no need to be anal about this: somewhere faster than 800 pace and close to 400m pace is generally fine. (NB: if the athlete cannot hit these paces on one night after regularly doing so, question if they are fully recovered from recent training before trying to make them hit the times or making them continue into the main session)
This 10 x 100-100 will be generally be run twice per week before each track session, but may be amended/reduced in quantity if the main session is itself fast. Our training nights are every Tues and Fri — I would not suggest more regular track work than this, but you always need to look at the total week's work and the time of the season and the target event.
Notes for anaerobic capacity session:
1) short reps
2) a little bit short of all-out pace — but in full control
3) passive (walk) recovery and lengthy compared to run-time (3-4 x runtime)
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Next thing I'd have the OP do is come fresh and rested to the track, warm up as if for an important race, and then run an all-out 3k time trial. If the runner has been with me for some, and races often (as I encourage them to do), I will have recent race performances to work off of. I used to look for recent 5k times (because no-one races 3k anymore), but usually got only road 10k times because those events are more common. These don't tell you what you really want to know ... When you get them, you often have to allow for hilly terrain, or possible route measurement inaccuracy or a performance in August ... Many 5-10k runners these days never race on a track, so there's always that guesstimation / extrapolation factor, which I like to avoid. So I now prescribe a track 3k TT (and even shorter) and get a bunch of similar-level runners to run simultaneously. It can be nervous/fun for all, and provides an extra spark of motivation.
Let's say our OP (as an ST — FT's with a 33:10/10k time would probably run faster than an ST in a 3k TT) runs something like ~71.0-72.0/lap in this TT. I would use that pace for a weekly session of intervals.
Using the numbers estimated for the OP, it might go lIke this:
a) 2 x (6 x 400 at 71-72s/lap with equal time stand/walk recovery) jog easy 800 btw sets
shortly (within ~3 weeks) leading to:
b) 2 x (4 x 600 at 71-72s/lap with equal time stand/walk recovery) jog easy 1km btw sets
shortly (within ~3-4 weeks) leading to:
c) 2 x (3 x 800m at 71-72s/lap) with equal time stand/walk recovery) jog easy 1600 btw sets
shortly (within ~3-4 weeks) leading to:
d) 6-8 x 800m at 71-72s/lap with equal time stand/walk recovery
We tend not to go much longer, or maybe up to 1k max. Besides, achieve session d) and it's about time to retest your 3k TT. Never forget that the constant work at 100-100 is working on improving your mechanical efficiency at 3k TT pace so the 800 reps should get easier over time. Note that ST's get passive recovery in the 3k-paced intervals, FT's might get jog recovery (the pace is not the problem for them, the recovery is the problem).
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The third and fourth things we'd do (at least at first, unless we realised our OP needed more quick work) is follow an adage I coined long ago: always protect what you've got before reaching for more.
In the Hadd Approach, there are two thresholds, the Lactate Threshold (LT) and the Lactate Turnpoint (LTP). This is not the place where I want to get into what they each represent, or the importance of each, or how they each interact on each other and on performance, but I always make sure that once we build them to a high level with Hadd's Phase I, we never lose them again. In a distance runner, they are absolutely crucial to performance.
So, the next regular main session would be a workout at LTP effort. There are a number of ways we might derive this:
1) From HR — steady effort at 90-93% HRmax
2) From a recent HM time if you have it
3) As a percentage of 3k TT (eg: 88-92%)
It is not necessary to run exactly any pace, the effort is more important than busting a gut trying to keep up to a pace set under better environmental conditions. The pace (at this point) is largely irrelevant. The effort is everything. And longer reps are better than shorter: if you always want to run shorter reps (1600s instead of 3k reps), ask yourself why.
Depending on the individual, but even things like the weather (shorter reps in summer), we might run:
a) 6 x 1600 with relaxed 400 jog
b) 5 x 2k with 400 relaxed jog
c) 2 x 3k with 800 relaxed jog
As the runner develops ease at this effort, we might move it up to the same rep length at ~10k pace. Or even to 1500m reps with adequate rest at quicker than 10k pace and close to 5k pace ...
It could even be
d) 6-8 x 1k at ~10k pace (in the OP's case, ~75s/lap) with 200m jog recovery in 90s.
So don't get locked into any one LTP "pace".
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Finally, we'd include some work at "race pace". In this case, work at 800m and 1500m pace. Start short and easy, and put no pressure on the athlete to put the reps together (by shortening the recovery). Never forget that in an ST, the problem is not putting the reps together, the problem is making the reps fast enough in the first place. Where necessary, allow generous recovery. In time, you can get up to 4 x 400s at 800m pace, and 8 x 400 at 1500 pace, but don't rush it.
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So, let's put an example week together:
First of all, let me note: our intention is to make the OP (at this point) into a decent 800-1500m runner. This includes gym work and plyos/jumps.
We should persist with this for a whole season, all the while expecting improvements in 800 (and 3k TT) performance (test as often as improvement is expected/predicted by the training and the athlete is keen). We should concentrate on the 800m as a prime event until we achieve the minimal level of performance we seek (~2:04-2:05 as a short-term target for 800m?).
Depending on how quickly results come, we will decide how far to push this ... never forget, the improvements will pay off in spades at 10k-HM-M. Didn't I read recently that Ryan Hall wants to come back down and improve his mile-time? You can see why.
For longer-term consideration, from experience, adding endurance back onto an achieved 800m performance in an ST is easy, so we should not be too reluctant to go down this proposed route. We should not be surprised to discover that the runner can also run longer distance PRs simply off this M-D training. In other words, this training has been improving whatever weak point in the runner was holding them back over all distances. I've seen an ST run a significant HM PR straight after a drop-down season of 800-1500 training.
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When it comes to example weeks, a lot is going to depend on what point the runner is at in the season. So, bear that in mind when you look at the following: With an ST moving down to M-D, we'd train short-to-long (get good at the short and fast and add endurance later in the season because that comes easy in an ST), whereas with an FT, we'd probably go long-to-short (since an FT is weaker in endurance, we'd spend more time improving that first, and add speed later).
Here's an example 14-days which just outlines the points raised: (can be singles or doubles, but in our experience ST's tend to like longer singles than two short doubles). When in doubt, run lower mileage. You're an ST, endurance is not a big problem for you.
Mon: Day off or easy 70% HRmax (never higher)
Tue:
P.M. 8-10 x 100-100 walk (100s at v close to 400m pace)
a) 2 x (6 x 400 at 3k TT pace with equal time stand/walk recovery) jog easy 800 btw sets
increase rep distance over the weeks as per examples above. Re-test the 3k TT once you can run 6 x 800 with equal rest
Wed: A.M Easy 30 mins run P.M Gym work + plyos
Thu: A.M. 30-40 mins easy 70% HRmax (never higher) P.M ~30 mins at 80-82% HRmax (never higher)
Fri:
10 x 100-100 walk (100s at v. close to 400m pace)
Work at race-pace 200s for 800m and 300-400s for 1500m pace. Could be hill-work.
Sat: easy 70% HRmax (never higher)
Sun: A.M Gym work + plyos P.M. Easy 30-40 mins run
Mon: easy 70% HRmax (never higher)
Tue:
P.M. 8-10 x 100-100 walk (100s at v close to 400m pace)
Work at race-pace 200s for 800m and 300-400s for 1500m pace. Could be hill-work.
Wed: A.M Easy 30 mins run P.M Gym work + plyos
Thu: A.M. 30-40 mins easy 70% HRmax (never higher) P.M ~30 mins at 80-82% HRmax (never higher)
Fri: P.M.
10 x 100-100 walk (100s at v. close to 400m pace)
a) 6 x 1600 at LTP effort with relaxed 400 jog
increase rep distance over the weeks as per examples above, but not obsessively. Shorter reps in hot weather.
Sat: easy 70% HRmax (never higher)
Sun: A.M Gym work + plyos P.M. Easy 30-40 mins run
Note that if you do not let the easy be easy enough (ie: ~70% HRmax) then you will not be able to run the other intensities in the week as hard as you should do and do so consistently week after week. The biggest thing I note in a newbie is that my definition of "easy", and their definition of "easy" is never the same. We go by mine.
Last note: if the athlete is unsure about readiness for any of the above sessions, back off. When in doubt, back off and run easy till the athlete signifies the he/she is ready for more work. Never be afraid to add in more easy days. Nothing beats consistent work over time. Never be too hasty to see short-term results.
Don't hit me with questions, there should be enough info in here to get to started on. Hope this helps.