800m/1600m Workouts you did to break 2:00/4:30

4:33 and 2:03 here

one workout that REALLY worked me well was a 6x200 followed by 2x1600 at 3200m pace.

8x400 in 67 on 60 seconds rest.

Great workout, how much rest?

12 x 300 @ 48 w/ 70s recovery in trainers

That’s a ridiculous workout. I probably ran 2 1600s at 3200/3k pace in my entire time as a competitive runner. That’s basically a race.

What you need depends on where you’re at, but 4-5 x 600 @ 1600 pace w/ 3 min rest, 5 x 300 @ 800 w/ 100m walk, and 5-6 x 800 @ 3200 w/ 2:30 rest would be my go to workouts. There’s other stuff you can do to work more on 400 speed. Some runners need more lactate threshold work. This stuff is the core of competition period training though. As we get into peaking season we might do 800s @ 1600, 400s or 500s @ 800 and 1000s/1200s @ 3200, but those are 1x per season kind of workouts. Old school but effective at the right time.

1:56, 4:18 here. Got there a year after 2:01, 4:27.

key workouts:

Early season: 8-10 400s at goal mile pace with one minute rest

Early season: 8-12 200s at goal 800m pace with 200m jog

Peak season: 4 400s with 30 seconds rest faster than goal mile pace

Peak season: 2 400s with 30 seconda rest at goal 800m pace

A recall ending a lot of mile workouts and easy runs with 4-8 200s in 32s to lock that pace in. Same with 100s after an 800 workoit or after an easy run at 800m pace (goal to run fast but relaxed).

I also did a good job carrying my xc strength into outdoors that year. Kept the long run sunday. Doubled up on easy days. If I didnt hit my mileage in the am session (2 mile warmup 2 mile cooldown), i was doing a shakeout run at night.

This is not the only way but I can say i never had real footspeed and would have been better off focusin on the 5k but going to a D3 school my coach allowed me to follow my then dreams. Good luck!

1:57-4:21 in the years I broke both barriers.

Most notable workouts were 6x600m intervals uphill (up an incline). We stayed off the track through mid-April.

8 x 200 @ 28 w 1:30 recovery

200s can build a lot of fitness for the 800, but in my experience, they're far from a predictor. It's too short to really push the anaerobic pain.