Justin Rinaldi says that if you could do only 3 workouts for the 800m you should do these

Not overly impressed to be honest. Maybe they should have asked Brother Colm

There is always a loser on every thread

1 is speed with a touch of speed endurance

2 is speed endurance/anaerobic strength, and with the jog down, it probably gets you touching on some VO2max type efforts a bit

3 is your classic "20 minute tempo" just broken up and run a bit faster, good for 800 guys since a lot of tempo running is so far from their normal race paces

Makes a lot of sense to me. The most controversial thing is I see some coaches being a bit too anti-speed endurance year round. I think hills are the best way to do it. A lot less stress on your body than the track and builds a monster stride.

Looks good. Hills are highly under rated.

Name search Rinaldi on the boards and you'll find more comprehensive breakdown of training. Lots of posts over years and all Fast 8 workouts on twitter and other socials. This highlights the basics of training week:

Speed development Monday, Tuesday tempo/fartlek, and hills later in week.

Think this is typical base week for Fast 8 and then move into more race pace stuff in late spring/summer.

MoVB

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Here is the article with Kyle Merber

Justin Rinaldi is a much better mid D coach than I am, but if I had to only use 3 workouts for the 800m and just easy runs/strides/weight room around it i’d do:

Workout 1: 4x50m flys, 4-5x150m w/ rolling start, full recovery

Workout 2: 5-6x300m @ goal 800m pace, just enough recovery to be able to hit pace but no more, this will advance from like 3:00-4:00 to 1:30-2:00 as you get fitter.

Workout 3: 4-5x3:00 @Vo2Max w/ 1:1 recovery

I mainly just disagree with the threshold work, lots of speed based 800m guys and even some evenly balanced 800m guys will be doing threshold work at 1:30-2:00 per mile slower than 800m race pace, and the running mechanics will be entirely different. Vo2max work strengthens your lactate threshold plenty, and will be more like 0:45-1:00 per mile slower than 800m pace which has you engaging the middle distance running mechanics and introducing race specific muscle fatigue a bit more. I hear of lots of 800m guys in that pro/elite caliber 1:42-1:48 range that never even touch threshold work and that leaves me to believe it’s not really necessary unless you also want to be running fast miles and 3ks. You’ll also really suffer a lot for the final rep or 2 on that vo2 workout I suggested, and I think there’s something important about being able to hurt for 3:00 when your race is going to land somewhere in that 1:40-2:10 range.

This is all totally fair and I really think it comes down to the athlete. I've found that controlled tempo reps are where it's at for me. I do Vo2Max sessions as well, but they're noticeably harder to recover from. Whereas I can do 4-6x5min tempo and it's a walk in the park and I feel ready for my next workout. I know Vo2Max work gets me fitter, I also know it's just harder to sustain week after week. So I have to balance the two.

Glad to read more and more about SPEED. It seemed like for years all I heard about was logging miles, and the ol tired "but Snell did 20 mile runs!" I think I'll gag.

Sure you need to be aerobically fit, but you need to be able to run FAST. So fyi, going to the track and burning up some fast short reps is not being "stuck in the 90's" it's legit training.

Know Rinaldi training has large Igloi influence from his time with Joe Douglas of SMTC when he'd visit states. Think he said training with Khadevis Robinson back in day. Don't see from twitter if he uses "swing" and "speed" type definitions of efforts but don't usually see a lot of VO2 type stuff from what I remember. Usually see Bol and guys doing tempo stuff @ ~3 min per k and then track stuff at 800/1500 pace. Also remember seeing that speed days usually have final reps of like 150-200 @ race pace to practice relaxation at pace for first lap. Obviously more ways to skin a cat... Snell did 20 mile runs ;)

bumping this thread

Looks like some Vigil stuff to me.

Thought this was interesting that workout 1 includes hurdles. Not sure I've ever heard of that for the 800m before. Is it 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, or something else? What are the benefits 800m runners get from the hurdles?

They could compete in the 800m hurdles! .... If that ever becomes a thing.

Hurdles= hurdle walk overs, leg swings etc look up Hurdle Drills on tictok or youtube

Ah got it. Thanks for the info!

im guessing the purpose is basically for hip mobility?

hip mobility and strength.. work all those little abductors and supporting muscles.. sprinters aren't skipping that type of work and 800m folks need a big dose of sprinter to be good.

as others have said, Rinaldi obviously knows more than me. that said, if i can only do 3 workouts, EVER, im changing the 200 hills to flat. hills may be underrated, but if you can only pick 3, i think running 200s on the track, at pace or faster, is going to be more valuable. And im gonna change the threshold work to "5k pace" 400s or 800s.

I think threshold has a place with 800 runners, but I think there are going to be more benefits going with 5k pace when options are so limited.

i admit my knowledge is far more limited than JRs and I have not had the opportunity to work with enough elite talent 800 guys to have seen with my own eyes what can be great and what is not as efficient.

Thank you for that article. It says that one of his athletes ran a 3:34 1500 of 30 miles a week of training! That seems like incredibly low mileage for such a fast time.