Texas a&m 800 University DESTINED for failure??

I agree that the training seems a bit much this early but A&M is always good at the 800 so I don’t really think the training will inhibit them too much. I think the issue with Dixon is mostly not knowing how to run a tactical race (ie letting Hoppel pass him ON THE INSIDE) and also maybe just a lack of confidence.

Amazing that 2 schools in Iowa have better 800 squads.

No this is fine for 800 training. Contrary to what many on this board will say, you can do true speedwork pretty often. It’s common knowledge that this how they do at A&M. A guy named Donovan brazier and I think things worked out for him.

I don't think you can judge an entire programme by one session.

In any event, many would advocate a proportion of their programme being dedicated to working faster than race pace, so this "speed work" certainly isn't anything to get worked up about.

Running 200’s at 800m pace is not speed work

Juice Springsteen wrote:

No this is fine for 800 training. Contrary to what many on this board will say, you can do true speedwork pretty often. It’s common knowledge that this how they do at A&M. A guy named Donovan brazier and I think things worked out for him.

The argument to this type of training is that ones aerobic endurance will be lacking since you didn't dedicate enough time to over-distance aerobic training, and doing race pace work this early gives you little room to improve come time to peak. Donovan obviously ran fast for a&m but he was stagnating until he went to Pete Julian.

These are 400-800 guys. This is what they do for training. Not everyone does long tempos and mile repeats.

Stagnating?

Brazier was an 18 year old. He's been training for 5 years professionally so to compare his improvements after 1 year at A&M to 5 with Nike seems unfair.

There is no way to know just how fast he would've run if he didn't sign professionally.

ExPhys wrote:

Stagnating?

Brazier was an 18 year old. He's been training for 5 years professionally so to compare his improvements after 1 year at A&M to 5 with Nike seems unfair.

There is no way to know just how fast he would've run if he didn't sign professionally.

What? None of this is correct, He's been training for 4 years (17/18/19/20), and was training with the A&M coach until the end of 2018, and Donovan didn't get out of his slump, where he didn't PR or make a world team, until 2019.

sometimes wrote:

These are 400-800 guys. This is what they do for training. Not everyone does long tempos and mile repeats.

Well not all aerobic training consists of long tempos and mile repeats - there's shorter repeats, fartleks, short tempos - Donavan Brazier left the a&m coach for Pete Julian and won a Gold medal the next season. I've noticed that people who do this type of training tend to have 1 really good season before stagnating and fizzling out

Pretty silly to make that kind of judgement based off 2 workouts

Brazier turned pro after a single year at A&M.

The training environment is vastly different as a pro then when you are a college athlete.

So many factors are involved rather than a simple 10x200 workout in November

poopycock wrote:

sometimes wrote:

These are 400-800 guys. This is what they do for training. Not everyone does long tempos and mile repeats.

Well not all aerobic training consists of long tempos and mile repeats - there's shorter repeats, fartleks, short tempos - Donavan Brazier left the a&m coach for Pete Julian and won a Gold medal the next season. I've noticed that people who do this type of training tend to have 1 really good season before stagnating and fizzling out

Let me rephrase. These are 400-800 guys. They focus on short speed.

poopycock wrote:

ExPhys wrote:

Stagnating?

Brazier was an 18 year old. He's been training for 5 years professionally so to compare his improvements after 1 year at A&M to 5 with Nike seems unfair.

There is no way to know just how fast he would've run if he didn't sign professionally.

What? None of this is correct, He's been training for 4 years (17/18/19/20), and was training with the A&M coach until the end of 2018, and Donovan didn't get out of his slump, where he didn't PR or make a world team, until 2019.

Show me how, based off of one workout without context, you can reasonably say that they are neglecting their aerobic abilities.

Performance > training.

If they run fast - do you really have the latitude to question their methods?

If by stagnating you mean not breaking 1:43 then okay. he ran 1:43 mid as a college freshman. Improvements come little by little at the highest level. When you are extremely talented your progression does not go up exponentially. So many posters here think that if an athlete does not improve exponentially then they are a failure.

It does seem to be a bit much for November.

I trained with some 1:45 guys and we were not doing any intervals that totaled less than two miles this time of year.

Normally three mike totals.

800 is probably the event where world class training varies the most.

some can run upward of 100mpw with monster aerobic sesseions (Snell)

some run 70mpw and train like miler-800 types (symmonds)

some run 40-50 and train like pure 800m specialists (brazier)

some are basically long sprinters (gray)

It’s a hard event to have sweeping judgements for

poopycock wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61T3YVf5bjc&ab_channel=800University

Texas a&m released a youtube page a month ago, posting 2 workouts so far. In their last one they did 10x200 at 800 pace, I can't help but think this is too early for this kind of speed work. Is this why Devin Dixon always craps out at NCAA's? What do I know, though...

They seem to have a really freaking solid group of 800 guys in Dixon, Brandon Miller and Carlton Orange - let's hope their training doesn't get in the way.

Dixon Is just a head case

You’re also insane and didn’t watch the video. look at their first couple reps. This is nothing for these guys. Plus the rest. Get over yourself