400/800 Summer Training Plan Feedback

I don't think you should lift on your long run day.

Your only speed work is short speed and not surprisingly your 400 is better than your 800. You need some fast 300s instead of 150s.

Ehhh this looks like more of what you'd do in the fall than the summer. Summer should be the "general" phase, so just easy mileage, sprints, and some light anaerobic endurance work. The threshold and ET work should start in the fall as you move to more specific work, which will build to those mile pace workouts you do in the winter and spring. I would also cut lifting to twice a week - one upper body and one lower body, with 1-set-to-failure on each body part and one exercise per body part. Unless you're training to be a power lifter, lifting doesn't need to be a time consuming thing.

Some slight tweaks:

Monday: Long run (6-8 miles EASY, this will be your least important "workout day" as an 4/8 guy)
Tuesday: sprints (30-60m all-out)
Wednesday: easy run + lift (lower body)
Thursday: Anerobic workout (100m-150m @ current @400m pace)
Friday: easy
Saturday: sprints + lift (upper body)
Sunday: Off

Simple. All of these workouts will prepare you to be able to do the more intense and specific work done in the fall/winter/spring. Good luck!

Fast 300's in the Summer? No!

When would you suggest I move that lift day to? I feel like I still need three lift days because my strength is lacking. Also could I do something like 2x300 or 3x200 instead of the 150’s?

Conventional approach is to combine the intense days and lift on your speed day. With running being the priority, do the running first.

Why? The lifting before the 400s seems more sketchy. And we can debate if 400s are just a bit too much versus just running some 200-300s.

i am sort of a big fan of shorter intervals for aerobic work doing the summer. Things like 16-20x400@ 5-10k pace. I find them easier to tolerate in hot weather. Ideally cycle through a few different workouts to hit the system slightly differently and not to do the week to week comparisions. Same idea with replacing some short sprints with hill workouts.

And one question you have to ask is are you running XC or are you just training til Dec?

The extensive tempo workout with the 400’s is meant to be an easy workout so it’s not too fast and there’s a good amount of rest between reps. Also I’m not running XC in the fall.

Nah, no point in doing any extensive tempo this early, especially if the intensity is low. With 4/8 training, you shouldn't have "easy workouts," the volume is so low that you won't be getting enough intensity. The easy days should be easy and the hard days should be hard.

I think your schedule is pretty good but could use some tweaking. couple questions first: aren't you in the middle/end of outdoor season right now? have you PRd since indoor? what kind of mileage have you done in the past/are doing right now? have you done XC in the past? what are your off distance PRs (200, 1600, 5k)? how old are you, and how long have you been running? the answers to these questions will give me a clearer idea of your background and would help me offer better advice

I'm not currently running with a team so no outdoor season for me. I'm doing about 25-30 miles right now but I'll probably get up to 30-35 for the summer. I've never done XC and don't plan on it. My 200m time from a year ago when I first started track was 24.5 and I ran a road 5k a month ago in 19:30. Also I might race a mile next week in an open race so I'll see how that goes.

starting generally, I'd do your sprint day when you're as fresh as possible. for me, I do my sprint work to start my week either coming off a rest day or just a regular easy run. I also wouldn't do an easy run afterwards, if you get to 3 miles naturally as part of your WU and CD I guess its fine, but think about what you're trying to build on a sprint day: top speed. does a 3 mile jog help with that at all? or does it just add extra fatigue for the sake of hitting a mileage number? As others have said, I'd try and keep your lifting days on the same days as your workouts whenever possible. just helps you recover a bit better. I don't love the structure of friday's workout just cause those 400s are pretty low volume and probably aren't getting you a ton of stimulus. if you're going to do extensive tempo work, I'd try and get to around 3k of volume and just do the 150s as a separate workout or blend them with your sprint day. since you have no background in distance training, I wouldn't bother with mile repeats or explicit threshold work. if you want more aerobic stimulus just do another extensive tempo some weeks, maybe every other week alternated with a hill workout. hills are just the bread and butter of any runner's offseason in any discipline imo. doing a mix of both short and long hills, both sprinting and at a more controlled effort can take the place of any workout in the week. I might not lift after any longer hill sessions though. if you're in high school, definitely join your high school track team next spring and maybe talk to the coach now, if you can prove your times from indoor they'd likely be more than happy to help you organize your training as it shows pretty good natural ability. if you can run under 5:20 in a mile I'd consider doing XC as well. it doesn't translate perfectly to 400/800 training, but it does give you training partners, keeps you consistently training, and helps you develop aerobically which would probably help your 800m some. that is if you're a male. if you're a female running 54 and 2:10, please never do XC. I'll give an example schedule, as well as a link to an interesting article I found about 400/800 focused training a while back.

Note: 3’ = 3 minutes rest
M: speed - 4x40m all out on 5’ + 3-4x150 @ 400m pace (~20-21 seconds) on 3-4’ ; you can do any speed day you’re comfortable with here, or even hill short sprints (5-6x 8-10 second hill sprints on 4-5’) just make sure you take enough rest ; lift afterwards
T: easy mileage
W: extensive tempo - 8-12x 300m @ 70% of 400 (~60 seconds per 300m) on 2-3’ ; lift after
Th: easy mileage + strides
F: extensive tempo or longer hills - 4x(300-200-100) @ 56-34-16 on 2’ 3’ 4’ rest OR 6x100m hill full go on 3-4 minutes rest ; optional lift after
S: longer easy run + optional strides
Su: off

obviously this is a pretty basic outline. fill in the easy mileage days with whatever you need/as much as you can handle without harming your workout days. all the workouts are just recommendations, you can find your own and fit them in as needed, I'd just try and stay in a similar theme. for example, something like 5x150 @ 400 instead of 6x100m hill sprints (both are working speed endurance/lactic tolerance). instead of extensive tempo, you could do a traditional distance runner fartlek so you can get off the track. might be harder for someone from your background though since the rest is a continuous jog, but I like them for a "change of scenery" so to speak, especially in the offseason. here's the article I was talking about:

final recommendations: 1. get training partners. either join a club, or join your high school team, maybe even XC (if applicable). 2. do the work, but don't OVERdo the work. If you feel cooked, take an easy day, or a day off, or even just a week with no workouts. great results only comes from consistency, and you can only be as consistent as you are healthy. 3. run fast often. do your strides, prioritize true max sprint work. developing your top speed alongside aerobic strength is how you get good at the 800. and the 400m is a sprint, to get better you need to be able to sprint faster. I feel like this should give you a good foundation for the summer and fall. good luck!!

Thanks for the information I'll replace the run on the Sprints day with Speed Endurance. Also I'll be training with a college team next year so I'll have training partners there.