Coaches, what’s your most effective workout to get hs runners to neg split?

Whistle every 100m

Give them someone to stick behind first 400m

High schoolers literally don’t know how to negative split. The only mild negative split is a 3200 at conference / league championships: most jog for 6 laps before hammering the last 2

I know low 9:0x guys (including myself) who typically run like 4:29/4:33

"Negative split the next race or you're out of the team".

Promise ice cream if they'll split 90/85 on an 800 repeat.

The way to negative split in races is to negative split in workouts. Any workout of just straight repeats, whether it's 200s or 2000s, tell them to go out conservative and try to knock off time every single rep. For example, in a 8x400 workout, for kids running about 5:00 pace, start out at ~80 and go 0-2 seconds down each time, ending somewhere from 65-70 depending on how each athlete is feeling. Last one should be really cranking.

As far as in the race goes, maybe give them some reward for having a fast middle 800, the closing speed in your example is pretty great for 5:00 kids so I wouldn't worry about dying on the last lap.

Ummmm. Am I missing something here? 69/79/81/65 IS a negative split.

-Out and back runs. Easy pace out, medium hard pace back.

-Alternating blocks easy, medium, hard, easy, medium, hard, etc.

-tempo run on the track increasing pace

-interval workout, set 1 @ x pace, set 2 faster

Show various pro/collegiate/high school race videos online once or twice a week before a workout for better idea... Centro's Olympic Gold.

Technically yes, it’s a 50/50 neg split but it’s horribly paced. So erratic splits I’m trying to avoid as well.

I have no coaching experience, and did not figure out negative splitting until long after high school, but, I saw one of the discussions here about Jakob Ingebrigtsen where Jakob or his dad was quoted as saying that any rep in a workout if slower than the rep before it, the workout is over.

That would be kind of drastic, and I don't know if its the hill you want to die on, but it would certainly send a message to stop a workout after two or three 400s if everyone is getting slower. Maybe try running the workout again the next day.

I am a high school teacher, and I could see this turning off a lot of the kids, but if you have a good rapport with the team and frame it right, it could be effective.

My coach had us do a lot of negative split 800's in college. First 650 at around I pace, then FAST (like mile pace or faster but not sprinting) last 150. 4-5 of them with ~4 min rest. You can literally do this for any workout though.

If they were more even they could run like 73/73/74/70. A sub-5 mile should never have an 80+ second lap.

In a race, are they staying in the pack or leading it? Where do you want them with respect to the lead runners or do you care? Would you want them to trail and "fight their way back"? This is pretty early in the track season, as their strength builds, do you expect that they can sustain their "wrong" pace better?

I expect that from the start they do not know their target pace. Could running a 200m repeats at the starting target pace help?

I know nothing about track by the way... glad to contribute nonsense though

1. All regular runs are progression runs

2. All quality sessions begin at threshold pace and get faster each rep or set

3. I award letters on a points system. You start with 50 points and it takes 60 points to earn a letter. Doing dumb things, breaking team rules, positive splits = loss of points. Being a leader, racing smart, running negative splits = points earned. Each athlete is in charge of their destiny. With rare exceptions, nearly everyone earns their letter via self discipline.

Do you give kids target times for a workout or just let them figure it out? My high school coach never gave times. Everything was supposed to be as hard as you could go and finish the workout, which usually meant running the first rep too hard. Once I started actually getting goal times for workouts, I got a lot better at pacing.

You could also try calling them back at 200m until they get the first rep right. Usually, if they get the first rep right, they won't speed up drastically.

If you have groups that run together, you can usually figure out what kid tends to get out too hard. Tell them they're not allowed to lead in the first half of the workout.

Finally, let them pace badly for a while. If they're doing the same thing week after week, it's time to step in. If they're still improving, especially if they're an underclassman, let them keep doing what they're doing.

If the kids are dying on a workout don’t try the workout again the next day. They probably are struggling to recover between workouts/races. Give them an extra day or two of recovery, instead pounding them senseless with workouts.

Lol the first time I broke 5 I ran 67, 77, 85, 69

If that's what they're running they ARE negative splitting it since the second half is faster than the first. You're chasing the wrong goal.

Negative splitting is overrated. Teach the kid to run with the lead pack for as long as they can. If they aren't quite ready to do that for at least half the race then maybe have them hold back the first lap then go for it.