Question about this: do I need a lactate meter and testing to determine LT zones? As I'm sure you guys can tell from my training sample but I sometimes have trouble keeping a lid on my workouts and I know LT stuff isn't always reliable based on feel. I also try to keep my workouts pretty simple since it's just me by myself on the track for these.
If you have a heart rate monitor, you’ll want your HR to be somewhere between 170-180 by the end of your reps. That seems to correlate well, I only take my lactate during a workout once a month or so to make sure it’s still correlating and it usually does. Even if it’s a tad off it’s not gonna matter a lot. You’re training for 2 laps around a track, not a half marathon.
It’s important to do this work but the only work you need to be really stressing about hitting proper speed and effort will be the Vo2Max workouts and the 800-mile paced workouts, pure 800m guys seem to respond most to these.
Appreciate this and all the responses! Never thought my thread about my scrubby 800 times and training would get such a response. I don't have a HR monitor, I usually just hit the track with my Timex, but I think I'm so bad at tempo stuff anyways it won't be too hard for me to take these easy.
Also, with regards to me bumping my mileage and getting a 5k PR but then regressing in the 800: it was disappointing but honestly I wanted to break 17 so it was kind of worth it. I've never run that kind of mileage consistently so I wanted to see how I'd handle it and build off of it. Also, as someone who is always in the back-ass heats of the invitationals I go to and still gets beat, it was fun to be more competitive in road 5ks and actually get a few wins. As much as I'd love to run sub 2 or break 4:20 in the 1500, I feel that's probably at the high end of my ability so taking a few months to run road races with the rest of my club was a fun side quest.
I would ditch the "I'm a pure 800 guy" mindset. You need to improve your overall game. None of your abilities indicate you're a pure 800 guy and that's not to be taken as an offense, it's outlining what your abilities say.
You have to build a stronger aerobic and neuromuscular system to be able to train at a higher level. There's a lot of good advice here, but you need to become a bit harder to kill before you could execute a single one of those workouts. Start with one simple thing. Get better at competitive running.
- Find a weekly Mon-Sun routine that works for you. You're not tied to a team so sleep routine, diet, running schedule etc. will be incredibly important in preventing your body from becoming lethargic. The human body loves routine.
- Get strong. Stretch, Mobility exercises, Weight Training, Core.
- Strides & plyos. Stride 3-4 times a week at 1500m effort smooth and unbothered. Plyo drills done correctly twice a week. YouTube it.
- Enter in races at your CURRENTLY ABILITY. I'm assuming your goal is to break 2 at the moment so you're probably entering at 2:00 or faster. Enter races you could win. I promise you'll compete better. The time will come as you learn to execute racing tactics.
-There will be no silver bullet workout that's going to make you this great runner. Classifying yourself as a "pure 800m" guy does not excuse you from being terrible at longer distance events. I know plenty of 1:47 or faster guys who could run 5-6 mile tempos at 5 min pace.
Once you get these things down to become a better competitive runner, training will start clicking.
If you have a heart rate monitor, you’ll want your HR to be somewhere between 170-180 by the end of your reps. That seems to correlate well, I only take my lactate during a workout once a month or so to make sure it’s still correlating and it usually does. Even if it’s a tad off it’s not gonna matter a lot. You’re training for 2 laps around a track, not a half marathon.
It’s important to do this work but the only work you need to be really stressing about hitting proper speed and effort will be the Vo2Max workouts and the 800-mile paced workouts, pure 800m guys seem to respond most to these.
Appreciate this and all the responses! Never thought my thread about my scrubby 800 times and training would get such a response. I don't have a HR monitor, I usually just hit the track with my Timex, but I think I'm so bad at tempo stuff anyways it won't be too hard for me to take these easy.
Also, with regards to me bumping my mileage and getting a 5k PR but then regressing in the 800: it was disappointing but honestly I wanted to break 17 so it was kind of worth it. I've never run that kind of mileage consistently so I wanted to see how I'd handle it and build off of it. Also, as someone who is always in the back-ass heats of the invitationals I go to and still gets beat, it was fun to be more competitive in road 5ks and actually get a few wins. As much as I'd love to run sub 2 or break 4:20 in the 1500, I feel that's probably at the high end of my ability so taking a few months to run road races with the rest of my club was a fun side quest.
The third option is to go about 1:00 per mile slower than mile pace, so if you’re in 4:50 give or take right now mile shape you’ll want to run 5:40-6:00 pace for the broken tempo stuff. Ideally you’ll see this develop to 5:20-5:40 pace by the time you are ready to peak.
And that’s awesome, I love running off events for the challenge of it, even though i’m not gonna be as competitive as I am in the 1-4 lap range, I’ve decided the summer/fall is marathon season for me and it’s lots of fun. It’s nice to get out of the hyper competitive sphere that is HS/college running, and realize just how good you actually are when you are up against normal people instead of top 1-10% talent individuals who are manically obsessed with the sport. I remember I raced a charity 8k in 12th grade where I ran around 29:00 and I obliterated a 400 person field by over 2:00. It was a good day haha.