CoachFB wrote:
She is 14 yrs old
When she was 12 she ran 2:22.7
Since then she had some injuries Knees and we took a year off.
This year she has run 800m 2:38 and 400m in 1:03
Example of training
M- 12x200m full rest 8mins
T- 150m, 120m,100m x 3 set 3min rest
W- 3sets of broken 800 (400, 60sec rest, 400m) x 3 full rest between sets or we'll do 6 x350m 5 min rest
Th- 5x 150 build ups
Fri rest
Sat- meet day 800m and 400m events
She had complained of knee and hip pains again but the pain is far less then before. Doctors says from growing pain
Should I replace a speed day with a 3k run if so at what pace?
What I see here is FAR too much intensity, with very little rest. With all due respect, I'm not at all surprised she is getting injured and isn't improving.
Doing too much anaerobic work is an easy trap to fall into for younger runners. The anaerobic system can be developed very quickly and produce very good short term results (2:22 is really quick for a 12 year old girl). HOWEVER, once it has been developed, the athlete stagnates, gets injured because their body simply can't handle the intensity, and doesn't improve. Once the anaerobic system is developed, there isn't really anything to improve on. Trust me, I have seen multiple athletes off this kind of training have incredible success at a young age, often ranked top 5 nationally, only to get injured and never run quicker again, or if they do no where near the same level.
You need to improve the aerobic system. In the short term it will do far less than anaerobic training, but in the long term there is far more room for improvement and it will produce a more resilient and durable runner.
In the training you gave she did 5 sessions of fast intense running in 6 days and nothing over 400m. You should be doing AT MOST 3 interval sessions a week. One should be at 800/1500 pace, one day is striding and sprint work, and the other long repeats (600-1200m) at around 5k pace. There should be at least a days rest between each, which should be filled with easy running. 3k is fine at first but build up to 5 or 6k, with a longer run once a week which could go up to 10k. Racing every week is too much in my opinion, and when you do have a race cut out one of the interval sessions.
In the winter, do ONE interval session a week, involving long repeats at around 5k pace. Another day should be a tempo run, building up to 20 minutes and not run too fast. Fill in the other days with easy running, with one longer run a week. A few strides before or after the interval session and the tempo will maintain speed. Easy runs are exactly that, easy. The athlete should be able to easily maintain a conversation and shouldn't be that tired at the end.
Trust me, I've seen too much talent wasted. Please focus on the long term, develop the aerobic system, cut out the intensity. You clearly have a very talented athlete with a lot of potential, but if you keep doing what you are doing she will keep getting injured and likely won't ever improve.