Running and sprinting are different beasts

I read a study where it was highlighted that the fastest sprinters in the world were ALWAYS the fastest, growing up, in whatever societal group, they found themselves in (eg school, college, sports teams etc). Training perhaps only played a part in separating them once they had reached the top of the mountain and even then genetics, mind set, etc may have been as much of, if not more of a factor.

Thanks for sharing - would you be able to give us some more insight into your lifting routine?

Are you mainly doing the big lifts like squat and deadlift or do you do other exercises as well?

Thanks for sharing all that. Very interesting schedule and mix of training.

Please provide some context. How old are you? Are you training with a college team? What level of program? Are you self coached or is this your coach's training? What event is your primary focus? What are your prs?

Context is everything. Thanks in advance.

I’m 20, 21 in a month, and yes, I run for a midmajor but competitive D1 program. It’s essentially my coaches training but I have the freedom to and do talk to him about tweaking certain workouts and my schedule outside of working out with the team.

800m is my primary focus, I’m essentially a DMR workhorse, I train to run fast from 400m to a mile.

PBs, with milliseconds added or removed for anonymity

400m: 49.7

600m: 1:19.6

800m: 1:49.9

1500m: 3:49.2 (high altitude)

3000m: 8:42 (high altitude)

Thanks! Appreciate the context.

It sounds like you've done very well with the training approach and schedule you posted. At first glance, it looks like a highly 800 focused plan. But you seem to be having success in the 1500/mile range with it as well. I'm assuming from your 400 time that you're a speed based mid distance guy, and that your coach is training you as such.

What were your high school prs, and how did they affect the approach your college coach has taken with you?

So this is where it gets a bit interesting, because I graduated in 2020 I didn’t get a senior outdoor season. My highschool had notoriously bad training and I walked away with PBs of 53, 2:08 and 4:43. 16:09 for 3 miles, but it was a miracle race for me, I was normally a 17:00 guy by senior year. decided to take a gap year, just did a lot of running and lifting because it was therapeutic for me, and during spring the next year my HS friends all wanted to meet up for a 400m race and a mile race. I ran something like 51 and 4:35. I beat my friend that went division 1 out of highschool with 52, 1:57 and 4:22 (high altitude). At that point I realized if I could do that off of 50something miles a week of 6:30-8:00 pace I could probably get collegiately competitive. My friend got me in contact with his coach and that coach told me that he could help me train over the summer and fall, and the day I ran sub 1:57 or 4:20 I had a roster spot.

Later that fall with some really good coaching I got down to 51.2 1:54, and 4:18(1600m), and broke 16:00 for 5k during a tempo. I trained a lot like a miler/3k guy during indoor season and debuted outdoors with that 1500m PB. Got my speed in a good place and started running sub 50 splits during relays, I also found I can’t really get below 165 lbs and stay healthy, so we decided to start focusing on 4/8 type training while still trying to stay in touch with mileage/strength. That got me a sub 1:50 at the last chance meet for the season and that’s where I’m at now.

Im having a bit of a rough season so far, lots of health struggles, and it’s made me wonder if I’ll continue racing in college next year when I go to law school (it’s IMO a top 5 in the country mid distance school, I need to be back in consistent sub 1:50 shape to run there) or if I’ll go the unattached route.

Deadlifts are more occasional for me, they tend to disagree with my back even when my form is good.

Clean and snatches are big for me, I also do jumping goblet squats. The goblet squats are absolutely lethal but so good for building explosiveness, and strength in your posterior chain.

Half contractions on the leg press machine are an essential for me too. Really big weight, like upwards of 600 lbs, and then only going through half of the range of motion.

Back squats are also a staple too. We vary between half squats to full depth squats depending on the day and the goal.

Lunges are also an essential, along with standing weighted knee raises if you have the equipment for that. You’d either need a resistance band or something called a monkeys claw, but it strengthens your hip flexors and improves your stride economy in a way no mobility work has ever done for me.

I also do bench, delt raises, running arms at high volume, and rows. The purpose here is to help buffer arm fatigue at high intensities, but also to stimulate the androgen receptors in the chest/shoulders, which can Increase/stabilize your testosterone which is very important for middle distance running.

You are a sprinter or you're not really is just that simply\e. You cannot turn a slow poke into a spreedster, all you can do is enhance that speed that is already there.

Runners can be manufactured they can be built.

Wait how can Farah not crack 13? I'm sure he was at some point capable of a 50 flat 400m, so 12.9X should be a walk in the park.

That’s like saying mammals and people are different beasts.