What 400/800 or 800/1500 workout do you swear by?

3x(3x200) 30" rest between intervals w/8' rest between sets

200's are done at 1st 200m of 800m race.

As a sharpening workout, rest is jog back

100

110

120

130

and so forth up to 200 metres

starting at mile pace and moving up to 400 max pace

For runners who have put in the high volumes of slower intervals and have already run some faster reps in practice, racing distances of 400m-1 mile:

3 x 800 @ 90-95% of 800m PR pace. Full (up to 20 min) recovery. 2, maybe 3 times in a season. Cannot be done in anywhere near hard races or other hard workouts in the schedule. I've only been able to do this with a handfull of my top runners, but it has worked magic every time.

A 2 min 800 guy would run the reps in 2:06-2:12. Major caveat, as the runner gets fitter, the pace should not increase, the runner should focus on running the reps smoother and if anything, lower the recovery.

Thanks for the responses! Others?!

For the 400/800

- 12-15 x 1 min on 1 min off, at about 2km speed (jog recovery at half that speed). Alternatively 6 x 2 on 2 off, same speeds

- other one is 4 x 400 with 3 mins rest at close to 800 speed

Karma Police wrote:

For the 400/800

- 12-15 x 1 min on 1 min off, at about 2km speed (jog recovery at half that speed). Alternatively 6 x 2 on 2 off, same speeds

- other one is 4 x 400 with 3 mins rest at close to 800 speed

I've used 10 x 30 seconds "on" 90 seconds recovery jog as pre season conditioning for my "sprinters" in the past. Many of them think they are sprinters but are totally suited for the 400/800 or beyond. That workout often times will give me an indication of who should go where.

Found a few good 800m kids that way and lots of good 400m kids.

CoachB - How do you measure recovery?

500-400-300-200 /10'/8'/6'

All 800 pace except the 200 all out.

amhall wrote:

CoachB - How do you measure recovery?

For which workout? for the 3 x 800, I give them up to 20 minutes of walking, jogging, stretching, sipping gatorade, whatever they need to do.

For the 30 seconds hard, 90 seconds easy, it is just a 20 minute continuous run with no stopping. I'm one of the "old school" coaches who don't believe that aerobic fitness has no place in sprint training. I mean, Wilma Rudolph ran cross country in the fall.

With my sprinters, I assign one aerobic development workout a week. Early in pre-season, we just try to build up to 3 ish miles of easy running. Then we progress to the 30 seconds hard stride/90 seconds jog, then we progress to 3 x 800 (not the workout listed above, i would never have non 800 runners attempt that workout). The 3 x 800 is done at about 2:40-3:00 for varsity boys and they get 1 lap walk in between reps. That progression takes about 6-8 weeks and takes us up to our first meet. We don't do a lot of specific aerobic stuff after that, but many of our drills have an aerobic component.

At a small high school, we ask our sprinter/jumper types to triple and quadruple all the time. Their events may not be aerobic, but the ability to recover in between events is.

For 400/800 try 4-5 sets of 2 x 200 with 30 sec. between reps and 5 min. between sets. The first 200 should be run on your current 400m pace and the second one as fast as you can go.

You can also do 4 sets of 250-150 with 45 sec between reps and 5 min. between sets. Try those between 400 and 800 pace.

20x200 w/100m jog covered in 30s.

2:00 guy: 34.0

1:55 guy: 33.0

1:50 guy: 32.0

400/800

Big fan of 5setsx4x100. 30sec between reps. 4min between sets.

14.5 - 15.0. Focus on running fast, but not all out with good form. Adjust the time based on your ability.

I have had some solid success with 800 runners, what I see here is mostly 1500 stuff.

I have a three week cycle we go through twice in the last 6 weeks. It's not one workout but the cycle in its entirety.

The Animal Within wrote:

I have had some solid success with 800 runners, what I see here is mostly 1500 stuff.

I have a three week cycle we go through twice in the last 6 weeks. It's not one workout but the cycle in its entirety.

Care to share a little sample of it?

CoachB wrote:

For runners who have put in the high volumes of slower intervals and have already run some faster reps in practice, racing distances of 400m-1 mile:

3 x 800 @ 90-95% of 800m PR pace. Full (up to 20 min) recovery. 2, maybe 3 times in a season. Cannot be done in anywhere near hard races or other hard workouts in the schedule. I've only been able to do this with a handfull of my top runners, but it has worked magic every time.

A 2 min 800 guy would run the reps in 2:06-2:12. Major caveat, as the runner gets fitter, the pace should not increase, the runner should focus on running the reps smoother and if anything, lower the recovery.

Thats a damn hard workout. Thats for 800/1500 guys right?

As someone said earlier; 100-200 increments of 10-20 depending on the time of year. Also 200-300 or 300-200 in increments of 20, getting faster each rep ending near all out with jog/walk back recoveries.

Split 800s + 3x200 Cutdown in 28-27-26 (middle 200 at goal 800 pace). I've only ever done 1 split 800, some coaches will say 2-3. Might try two next year. We race model these, but if you did multiple of them I would try to even split.

500, walk 100, 200

600/200

600/300 - never got to this one this year.

2x6x200 w/1' & 3' recoveries at goal 800 pace

800 @ Mile

400 @ 800

200 @ Relaxed 400 Speed

4-5x400 @ 800 Pace w/2-3-4-5 Rest

400 @ 1500 pace 30 sec rest (jog 100 meters) 200 @ 800 pace

I forget how many sets we would do but it was a lung busting but terrific workout.

400 800 workout:

5 x 300 3 mins rest between reps. Run the first 100 at 800m pace, sprint the second 100 at 400m pace, and run it in, smoothly slowing down towards the line Should start on the curve so you have momentum built up going into the straight away, but this is not a 200m pace workout, it's to become smooth at higher speeds.

800/1500 workout. Full mile repeats at 10km pace, jogging recovery. This is for an actual 800/1500 type, a 2 miler moving down would work more on speed endurance, 500m reps at 1500 pace.

Any thoughts on this workout for 800:

3x3x300m

rest 1min

rest between sets 4min

1) 3 sek above goal pace

2) 1 sek above goal pace

3) goal pace