Training to run sub 2 in the 800

Are you a HS or college soph? Current mileage, training details, and other PRs such as 400m, mile/1600/1500, 5K?

Run 800 slightly slower than 3000 pace?

16 x 200 in 28.

High school sophomore. 5k Pr is 16:35 and 400m of 54. Mileage is around 35 per week

Your endurance is already there, you would just need to do a lot of speedwork while maintaining the endurance aspect.

I think you should reconsider though, with that type of speed and natural endurance you could be like a 4:20-4:25 type of guy. Up your mileage and do a lot of strength work.

Josh here is what we do not knowing a whole lot about your training. A 400 session and a 10mile run really doesn't indicate much.

Here is what the training schedule of a 1:57 freshman and a 1:55 junior looks like. These runners are different in the sense that the freshman has also run 3:57 for 1500m. They both run around 35-45 miles per week. Here is a 2 week insight

Monday OFF

Tuesday Track 1k threshold 3:25 + 2x5x400 on 2min cycle + 1k threshold 3:25

Wednesday 8-10k on their own

Thursday 4x1500m on grass + 5x100m w/100 walk

Friday easy 6-8k

Saturday 5-6x1k on grass on 4:30 cycle + 4x200 on 75 second cycle

Sunday 12-15k easy run on their own

Monday OFF

Tuesday 2x200 threshold + 2x8x200 on on 90 second cycle + 5 min threshold

Wednesday 8-10k

Thursday 2x2k+ 1k as 300 on/200 float w/60-90 seconds rest between efforts +5x100 w/100 walk

Friday easy 6-8k

Saturday 2-3x1k/600/300 on 4:30 cycle/3:15cycle 3min between sets

Sunday 12-15k

Listen to your coach but I think it is always good to see what others do.

Good luck!

How much more should I increase my mileage by would you recommend? Also do you think it’s reasonable for me to go under 4:30 in the mile this outdoor season and what strength to training should I do? Sorry for asking so many questions 😂

Someone else suggested upping my mileage and switching to the mile, what do u think about that?

Go to mile. 10m LR @ 6:25 is no joke, especially if it truly felt aerobic. With your 2:04 and that LR I see you under 4:30. 9:40 2mi as well. You aren’t an 800 guy (I’m guessing) but continue to work on your speed and try to run sub 2.

If you ran 2:04 indoor you might already be able to go under 2 outdoors.

But yeah, you only run 54 right now so you have to just get that down to around a low 53 or 52.

Considering you are a sophomore I would say 40-50 miles per week would be good as it would still give you a large amount of room for improvement next year and so on. Second of all, I think it is viable for you to go 4:20-4:25 in the mile this season. Based off of that 400 workout and along with your speed, and aerobic capacity you may already be.

You seem to have pretty solid endurance right now, if you can only run 54 that shows you only have the bare minimum speed to break 2:00, and in my experience you want a more comfortable speed reserve when looking for improvement in the 800m.

Highschool 800s tend to go out too fast, say your first 200m is a 26.5-27 and you come through 400m in 29-30 for 56-58 seconds, you can have killer long distance endurance but if you are opening a 2 lap race at nearly or at your all out 1 lap sprint speed you are gonna fall apart, your muscular system will fail you even if your engine is in a good spot.

Think about 800m specific fitness like this: You can get your 5k down under 16:00, but is that going to help you squat 225 lbs for more reps then you could before? Yes squatting as many times as you can is a test of endurance, but the guy who’s in the gym regularly squatting 400 lbs will be able to squat 225 lbs more times than you’ll be able to even if his 5k is like 28 minutes. Near perfect example of how speed reserve and speed endurance work. By getting your 200m and 400m faster, you are increasing your maximum squat per se, meaning you can do a sub maximal squat for more reps and feel a lot more comfortable doing that.

You’ll build that power in your legs with running reps 50-150m in length with moderate to long rest, I mean 3-10 minutes between reps here, short hill sprints, and the occasional long sprint reps where you are running 200-400m at faster than 800m race pace with long, long rest and only 3-4 reps for the whole workout.

I’d talk to your coach about getting sessions like this on your schedule once a week:

-4x50m flys + 4x150m w/ running start with 4-5 minutes between reps

-2 sets of 2x200m w/45 seconds between reps and full rest between sets, this workout is a fairly accurate 400m predictor. If you are in 54 shape right now your splits will probably look something like 25.5, 28.5, 26, 29.

-6-8 sprints up a 50-100m hill

-3x300m looking for 40-42 seconds, later in the season make it 3x400m looking for 56.5-59 seconds

- 1-2x100m-200m-300m-200m-100m looking for about 12.5 on the 100s, 26-27 on the 200s and 40-41 on the 300s

The goal is to get to the point that running a 25.5-26 second 200m doesn’t even phase you that much by itself and you feel fairly relaxed doing it. That way, when a good sub 2:00 race opens in 26.5-28 you’ll feel right at home and ready to battle to keep it faster than 30 second pace for another 600m.

Why do you have to pick one event? Big believer in racing over a variety of distances as a young athlete. If you can run 54 seconds you probably aren't far off being on the school 4x400 team as well. Back in the 80's we used dual meets as training and only picked our best events for the invites on the weekend. Don't know how it works there now. In Australia we have a super long season that runs from October to April (no indoor here) so athletes have lots of opportunities to race a variety of events and race in good comps with older runners.

Good luck!