Joachim Cruz Training????

This is pretty much in line with all the stuff that I have..which is all photo copied stuff directly from Luiz and articles that I have collected over the years.

It would take me way too long to type it all out sorry, so I'll give you a bit.

Let run over the mileage quickly;

Re-apdatation (Oct/Nov)

First 4 weeks 12-24 miles (very easy jogging)

Next 4 weeks 25-40 miles

Basic Prep Dec-March 13 weeks (2 weeks Hard 1 week light)

Hard week = 2 hards days, 1 light day)

Light week = 2 light days, 1 hard day)

W1 50 miles

W2 50-56 miles (intervals start in flats, plus hills)

W3 45 miles

W4 56 miles

W5 60 miles (speed drills start)

W6 50-56 miles

W7 60-65 miles

W8 50-56 miles (spikes once a week)

W9 60-65 miles (changes to 1 hard 1 light week)

W10 56 miles

W11 60-65 miles

W12 56 miles

W13 35 miles (very easy week, 5 miles/day)

Special Prep March-June 13 weeks (1 hard, 1 light)

W14 60-65 miles

W15 50-56 miles

W16 60-65 miles (race prac drills start 800/1500)

W17 40-50 miles

W18 50-60 miles

W19 45-50 miles

W20 50-60 miles

W21 50 miles

W22 56-60 miles

W23 50 miles

W24 50-56miles

W25 50 miles

W26 35 miles (very easy week, 5 miles/day)

Comp Phase June to Aug

June 50-40miles

July 42-35 miles

August 35-28 miles

From week two onwards they do cicuits and weights each week. They continue circuits well in to the racing phace. Most of their circuits involve 10 exercises 100m apart, followed by a run (1000m in winter, down to quick 400 or 600m reps in summer). It should also be noted that if an athlete is feeling flat, they can do a pool run instead of a distance run that day. He did count warm ups and warm downs and even told them where they should run their warm ups. Volume of reps reduce over time along with the pace of the reps; 4x4x400 in 64-66sec down to 3x400 in sub 50 sec.

Lets look at a full month during the racing season (mileage runs in between not included)

J Cruz Aug 1988 **note rolling start for reps

8/1- 3x500 (300 44-46, 200 23-25sec) 4 min rec

2-

3- Race 1000m 2:17.85 1st

4- 3x2x150m 2min then 5min rec Ave 16.85

5- 2x1x300 2x200 6min then 10min between sets Ave 35.1 23.3

6-

7- 2x900 (400 4min 300 4min 200) Ave 51 39 24

8- 1x1400 (600 4min 400 3min 200 2min 200) 1:16.65 53.80 24.70 25.70

9-

10- Race 800 1:45.38 1st

11- 3x3x200 15sec rest 4min btw sets Ave 25.80

12-

13-

14- Race 1500 3:34.63 PR 1st

15-

16-

17- Race 1500 3:35.22 3rd (Zurich)

18- 4x200m 4min rec Ave 22.4

19- 3x400m 5min rec 49.16 49.80 51.81

20-

21- Race 800 1:44.27 2nd

22-

23- Race 800 1:44.58 1st

24-

25- Circuit Training 1 (reps inbetween 600, 300, 200) 1:16.92 37.18 24.58. So you'd do a circuit, rest 3 min then run a 600, rest 3 min and do another circuit and so on until you'd done 3 circuits and 3 reps.

26- 3x400 (200 30-32sec 200 23-25sec) 4min rec

27-

28-

29-

30- 3x1x300 + 2x150 5min then 10min rec Ave 34.8 16.4

(as he only ran about 35-28 miles eack week in this month, most of the blank days would have been very easy jogs or days off).

OK, my fingers have had enough and I think you can get the point. Aug was used to get ready to run 4 hard rounds of 800m in a short period of time at the Games the following month...which he should have won if he only relaxed after 200m instead of trying to push a pace that was already too hot (23.7 from memory). He was also going to run the 1500m but pulled out due to sorness, as did Said.

JR

Thank you rinaldi.

One more question his easy 5 mile days where those 5'20" pace and did he build up the pace over the year i.e. when he ran 15 - 25 miles a week it was slower.

Thats great stuff jrinaldi but i have a few questions still for you

What is a hard day and a light session?

what paces where his sessons are did parts of the year?

What did he do for weights and plyos?

Was it the same all year round?

Did he do many lactate threshold runs or VO2max runs during the year and when?

What where the speed drills?

how would he format a typical week in each phase?

Was barbosa trained the same or was there differences?

I'll get back to you soon. The way Luiz keeps his records, you really have to sit down and work out what is done during the month, as he tends to group sessions instead of just have it set out in a weekly of monthly fashion. But it's handy in a way that you can see the progression over the months.

I left my file at work, so I'll update this thread soon..but;

Hard day wold be a track workout, plus a morning run of 20 to 25min easy

Light day wold be a single run of 40min or am 20min WU weights 15min WU pm 40min pool running. No plyos (keep in mind that Cruz had one leg close to an inch shorter than the other, so that may have been a factor). Then again, hill running is a type of plyo in my books. Also, I can see that they (not Cruz) did do stair reps see below;

UCSA/STAIRS 15min jogging WU 6x little steps (fast feet) 6x Big Steps (high knees) 5x Big Steps/Leg together (800 jog between sets) 6x100m strides and 15min CD. This was after a 30min morning run and the date is listed as Medium in December.

I haven't got any info on the speed drills, but will look around as I'm sure I did see some info on it once apon a time.

Angain, I'll need to get back to you on that one. There is a link that shows you the exact set up of each of the 26 weeks that I noted the milage for and I'll try find it (it's somewhere deep within these boards).

I have Barbosa's full year of training from 1991 (the year he ran 1:43.08) and it looks very similar to what Cruz did in 1988 (the year I noted the workout in the thread above), so I could safely say that they did the same format.

Be back soon...ish

That should have been UCSD/STAIRS not UCSA

this is very informative but hard to follow!

could you do out a normal week in each phase with details of everything in that week from sessions to weights etc..

It appears he doesn't do that many sessions to me in he week. Did he do many lactate threshold runs?

Thanks

Great stuff...

I think it would almost be more informative if you just posted the progression of the workouts in their groupings. That way we see how he progresses each group of workout.

Bump

bump,

thanks to everybody who has provided info.

Someone said it´s 70miles a week what Cruz ran, well I don´t see any 70MPW.

Training is much more than mileage. At 800m you don´t need excessive amounts of mileage but the quality of that is what really counts. Now you think that I don´t know how important the aerobic endurance is at 800m, but I know. Quality also isn´t just hard anaerobic tolerance workouts. But a good 800m runner has much more those FT fibers than what longer distance runner has, so two lapper needs less slow mileage with more faster work.

JRinaldi, I would be thankfull if you would post some sample training weeks of Cruz or Barbosa (from base phase through comp season)...

this fella rinaldi is a spoofer (full of crap)and if he is not his information is worthless as he is too damn lazy to post it up in an informative manner.

Don't get offensive, Rinaldi is a long time poster, and he gets my credit. He has talked about meeting pro runners before, and how it adjusted his life or something (don't remember as that is what he posted long ago). He also has run great times.

I hope you won't get to offended of this beginner crap rinaldi.

I believe I wrote that Cruz topped out at 70 mile weeks, meaning that he went no higher, which would be consistent with what Justin has written.

And a guy like Cruz is a freak for many reasons. But try taking your less talented kids and limiting their aerobic development work and it will completely retard their development. And even Cruz shows a big drop off in endurance, having essentially the same 800m best as Coe but being six seconds back in the 1500m.

Those less talented kids can`t handle as much or more mileage with intensive work than an olympic champion who had also a great aerobic capacity (those 1500m times shows that). I don´t suggest to "limit their aerobic development work", but I was just making a point that for ordinary 800m runner that kind of mileage isn´t ALWAYS possible, depending from the type. Some kid who comes from endurance side can of course handle more mileage but he can´t handle as much of intensity than a faster type can. For example, I can train more than Joaquim trained when just looking the mileage but not even close with same kind of intensity.

So I wouldn´t talk too much of mileage of someone else because everybody is an individual.

Just from my non-scientific observations over the years, I have only rarely seen kids that can't handle a gradual progression of training volume, regardless of their level of talent (gradual meaning +/- 500mi/yr increase).

ertyui wrote:

Those less talented kids can`t handle as much or more mileage with intensive work than an olympic champion who had also a great aerobic capacity (those 1500m times shows that). I don´t suggest to "limit their aerobic development work", but I was just making a point that for ordinary 800m runner that kind of mileage isn´t ALWAYS possible, depending from the type. Some kid who comes from endurance side can of course handle more mileage but he can´t handle as much of intensity than a faster type can. For example, I can train more than Joaquim trained when just looking the mileage but not even close with same kind of intensity.

So I wouldn´t talk too much of mileage of someone else because everybody is an individual.

Hey there,

Does anyone have a complete list of Cruz's races during 1984?? Here is what I know:

He ran a 3:53.00 mile somewhere (not sure where but it is the UofO record from 1984)

He won the Pac-10 800m

He won the NCAA 1500 (3:36) and 800 (1:45).

He won the Olympic 800m, running a 1:43.XX in the SEMI-final and a 1:43.00 in the final.

He ran under 1:43 3x in Europe, capping with a 1:41.77

That is freakin insane. Espically given that people are always harping that the long college season hampers athletes.

So I was curious just how many races he did and whether he lost at all that season. It might be one of the best seasons in mid-distance history.

There is a limit for everybody where the mileage cannot succesfully increased (with enough intensity) no matter how gradually you try to lift that.

JCruz1984 wrote:

Hey there,

Does anyone have a complete list of Cruz's races during 1984?? Here is what I know:

He ran a 3:53.00 mile somewhere (not sure where but it is the UofO record from 1984)

He won the Pac-10 800m

He won the NCAA 1500 (3:36) and 800 (1:45).

He won the Olympic 800m, running a 1:43.XX in the SEMI-final and a 1:43.00 in the final.

He ran under 1:43 3x in Europe, capping with a 1:41.77

That is freakin insane. Espically given that people are always harping that the long college season hampers athletes.

So I was curious just how many races he did and whether he lost at all that season. It might be one of the best seasons in mid-distance history.

I seem to recall watching him anchor a 4x400 that year, and I want to say he passed a UCLA runner to win at the end. Maybe UO was still doing dual meets with UCLA at that time. Or it's possible it was at Pac10s

I'm not SURE about any of the above, though, and it might have been in 85, after the Olympics too. I'll see if I can google around and confirm any of my recollections.

Looks like there was a UCLA dual meet in 1984 and Cruz at least ran the 800 in 1:47 (since it's still the series record, see here

http://blogs.registerguard.com/cms/index.php/track-and-field/comments/oregon-ucla-dual-meet-history/

Haven't found any proof he ran the 4x400 or any other events at that meet yet.