Low-Mileage 800m Training for Normal People

Define "normal person"

An example schedule that may be applicable to a lot of college age male 800 specialists that do 30-35ish, although their mileage may raise considerably during base and xc (65 wouldnt be unreasonable for some). This is assuming there is some general aerobic base that can be molded into aerobic workouts at middle distance specific paces

Every week includes a longerish run of 7-8mi. Ran easy most weeks, run it as a progression weeks 3 and 6. Recovery days don't need to be longer than 30ish minutes. Take a day off every twoish weeks. I find this archetype of athlete often doesn't need their down recovery week to be much lower daily intensity, but rather decreased density of workouts with increased recovery days.

Sprint specific days don't need to have junk miles added to the end. "Vin Lannana 150's" are ran as 50m build, 50m fly, 50 float with 4'+R. I really like them for pure speed maintenance and mechanics work later in the season. I like to lift on the sprint day and one other harder day. This isn't written around specific race dates so adjust accordingly. If just running for fun I'd try a few more TT or races in the ensuring weeks after 12.

Week 1: hill sprints, 6x2/1 fartlek 12x200 hills starting at 3kish feel and cutting down

week 2: hill sprints, 8x1/1 fartlek, 3x8x150 @mile 30"Rrep, 4"Rset

week 3: hill sprints 8-10x1/1 fartlek, 12x200 hills

week 4: Hill sprints, 3x8x150

week 5: 30m flys, 8x60" hill @mile feel, 3x8x100 @ 800 walk jog 100 rest,

week6: 3x6x60m @400 90"Rrep, 3"Rset, 12x200 at mile and cutting down 200 walkjog rest

week 7: 30m flys, 8x60" hill @mile feel, 3x8x100

week 8: No run over 5-6mi, 6-8x150 @400 4"Rrep, 3x400 @800+2sec, 800, all out, with 4-5"Rest

week 9: Race or TT, 2x4x200 @ 800, 30"Rrep 5'Rset, (4xVin + 6x1,1 fartlek)

week 10: Race or TT, 6x300 @800, 4'R, (4xVin + 3x8x150)

week 11: No run over 5-6 Race or TT, 4x400 @800, 6'+R, 30m flys

week12: No run over 5, One easy day with 4xVin, 4-5x200 from sub mile to sub 800, with 3"rest, peak race

Normal people run marathons, not 800m

Mon: 12x400m @3k, 400m jog or 200m walk for recovery

Tues: 3-5 easy, lift/plyo

Wed: 3-5 easy, drills and strides

Thurs: 3x1k @ 5k-8k, 5x300m @ 800-1500m pace, recover to 120 bpm

Fri: 3-5 easy

Sat: (100-150-200-150-100)x2 @ 600m pace or faster, running start, full recovery. Lift and plyometrics either right after workout or later in the day

Sun: off, easy 3, or XT

I reckon one would be able to race respectabe 400m-Mile times off of this training, and even a solid 3k if you’re aerobically gifted or up the easy day mileage.

I'm assuming "normal" means high school junior varsity XC level, like maybe an 18-20 minute 5k PB?

OP - it depends on your age, training background, PRs, and recent running. Can you provide more context? Otherwise, everyone is just taking a stab in the dark.

There’s a big difference between what would be recommended for, say, a 50yo who's been running 3:30 - 4:00 marathons for the past 15 years and who never ran track, versus a HS sophomore who ran 2:10 this spring and wants to keep going over the summer and shoot for 2:05, versus an out of shape 35yo who ran 1:5x in college and wants to get back into it after 12+ years off.

Thank you El Cab, I appreciate the detail! What pace or effort level would you run expect the fartleks to be run?

CopRunner, thanks! Nice and simple, and definitely feels manageable and relatable for someone coming from a distance background.

RicRic, that’s true but it doesn’t have to be that way!

Sub-8, I’d be curious what you’d prescribe differently for those example. That’s said, Im late 20s I’ve run 17’ 5k and 36’ for 10k in the last two years but Ive spent as much time injured (Achilles tendon and knee injuries) as I have training. Just looking to cut down the miles, spin the wheels, try something different and have some fun training this summer.

If you have been having achilles problems, the last thing you want to do is train for the 800m meters. The fast sessions can be brutal for the achilles.

Others have had great responses so I'll just provide what I think would probably work for most people as a base for MD training. Training should be significantly polarized where you're going "hard" on the hard days (as in all your mental and physical efforts should be preserved for these days). You'll have 3 workouts a week, effectively 2.5 as the sprint day tends to be fun.

weekly components

1. Daily training runs: 25 - 35 mins starting at a shuffle and progressing by feel (if possible) to a decent, unstrained effort. On varying surfaces throughout the week. Normally I'd say "over hills" but I would actually prefer flatter routes for the 800 guy.

2. One weekend long run: 45 - 60 mins, same rules apply. No need to go 60 every week, but ideally as often as possible.

3. Recovery runs: 20 - 30 mins at a bare shuffle, crosstraining, or a day off depending on feel

4. Optional doubles: 20 min slow jogs, crosstraining, or lifting in the AM

5. Strides: 4 (up to 8 on some days) x 100-ish at like 800m effort as often as possible. before workouts, after workouts, on easy days, etc. Frequent doses of race effort are good for ya.

workouts

1. Speed workouts: once a week will want to get on a track and do 5 - 10 x 80 - 100m accels, some 30 - 60m flys, or 10s hill reps all out. Full rest -- 3 mins walking around. Ideally pair these days with a good plyo/drill/hurdle workout where you can work on spring, mobility, power etc.

2. Strength workouts: I would do 3 - 4 miles worth of 800 - 1K reps (stronger guys can do up to 1600 - 2K reps maybe) at around HM/10K effort w/ short jog rests. Would also do controlled fartleks at 10K/5K effort w/ equal-rep on's and off's.

3. Economy workouts: probably 100 - 300m reps (MAYBE 400 if you keep it to 1500 effort) starting at 3K and cutting down to 800 effort w/ equal-rep jog. Go a while til you can't/get bored. don't be dumb... don't rip them... start easy and just aim to get a high volume of reps in.

Thanks for taking the time to post this!

Could someone define what "6x2/1 fartlek" means? I assume it means 2 minutes at X pace and 1 minute at Y pace. Is that correct? Could someone define those approximate paces? My guess is that it means 2 minutes at tempo followed by 1 minute of easy jogging. Is that right?

Going on mileage runs at 7 min. to 10 min. per mile pace on bad Achilles may lead to micro-tears with potential of permanent damage. If you train for events 800m and shorter with bad Achilles, you may get taken out by Achilles sniper, complete rupture. Most likely best not to train through bad Achilles.

Yes, if you have bad achilles dispose all race and training plans and start what you can do without any pain. Do painless activities only. It may be walking and cycling and knee lifting uphill. Like swimming during the summer? Search for more activities without pain. After a certain time, try easy strides and easy runs. never run with pain. stop the activity immediately when pain comes up. Be lucky if you can do drills uphill, strides on dirt (loose surface) and easy! runs. Develop into more and more running speeds, duration, and intensities as your achilles allows until you can compile a somewhat goal oriented training schedule. Think in a couple of months and not weeks or days. In many cases after overcoming achilles issues the monotone road running training grind is not advisable anymore. Good for you. Do more variance, speed, strenght, explosivity, fast running, slow running etc. and run nicely from 200-1500m. Have fun. Get healthy.

Thanks Newbi, this is exactly what I’m thinking. FWIW, I worked with a PT and got my injuries figured out. I was so insanely tight in a few places that a few weeks of stretching and strengthening took me from not being able to run a few steps comfortably to being able to go on runs without any discomfort

That said, I know if I start training for road races again im going to try to up the mileage and the workout intensities to try to get back to my PBs and get myself right back in the injury cycle. My hope is “training” like a speed based 800m guy, there will be less pressure to force it because there’s no previous workouts or PBs to try to beat.

Right. Probably the best path forward for training at any distance is to find a decent PT / sports therapist and work to address the Achilles and associated issues. In the meantime, brisk walks, short light jogs, long easy bike, swimming and pool running are your friend.

I suggest you find a sports therapist who will develop you to full strength, with the ability to do long runs, sprints, lifting, plyos, and drills with no problem. You may need a good strength & conditioning coach to work together with your PT.

If you don't address this head-on, you'll likely continue on-and-off dissatisfactory running with on-and-off injury, with the risk of more serious injury. But if you take care of it properly and comprehensively, you can potentially come out of this stronger and faster than before.

Thanks Sub-8, I’ve seen too many threads on here of people giving up running or at least giving up running fast because of injuries. And too many threads where people are blind to the fact they keep making the same mistakes even though everyone else sees it. I don’t want to be another one.

I should've specified, 6x2/1 is 2 minutes on, 1 minute off, alternating around 5k pace and easy distance pace. In the 1/1 fartleks the pace starts working down towards 3kish feel.

To ramble some thoughts on achilles/general ankle strength, because this has been a research/experimentation obsession for about two years now

-I have no hard evidence but I've always thought that rotating shoes is vital for health, varying the impact stimulus on your legs. It's the same idea as varying your terrain across roads, trails, etc. If possible I think you should optimally have a variety of heel-toe drops across your shoes, including a 0mm as some point in the week, so the achilles has to perform across a variety of foot strike angles.

-I like to incorporate some barefoot turf running, starting with some strides and progressing up to one shakeout or recovery run a week.

-For developing ankle and arch strength, I haven't found any exercise to be more effective that the Spring Ankle isometric holds developed by Chris Korfist. There's a little bit of free info out there on the exercises, but there's also the Speed Manual Korfist developed with Cal Dietz for $30 if you really want to dive into foot strength and mechanics.

-In addition to the Spring Ankle exercises, I like to integrate some barefoot plyos, starting with low amplitude stuff like Dan Pfaff's Rudiment series before advancing to anything higher intensity. I also like to do a bit of unilateral strength work on the forefoot with the heel hanging off a plate or platform like split squats or stepups. It's important to squeeze the big toe during the concentric portion of lower body lifts, such as picking up the deadlift. Squeezing the toe will engage the arch and glute, making a much stronger chain throughout the entire leg.

El Cab, how much spiking up for workouts would you recommend?

This was a great post and I'd like to expand on these points. I've had many foot injuries over the years so something I routinely do is take at least two additional pairs of shoes when I do a track workout. If I get a twinge in the arch, knee, metatarsal, ankle, etc, I will change shoes to see if it goes away. It usually does. If it doesn't, I'll tape up to prevent the pain or abort the workout. Better to avoid injury today and run tomorrow than to run through the pain and be out for weeks with an injury that you could have prevented just by stopping.

Achilles injuries benefit from a high heal to toe drop shoe during recovery, but those same shoes increase the risk of Achilles injury if you train primarily in a high drop shoe and then drop down to a low or zero drop shoe for your track workouts.

And doing some easy barefoot strides on the turf after a hard track workout is a great way to cool down and loosen up the legs and feet.