PR'ing in the 800 off of no speedwork?!!?

unless your pr is slow, you need lots of speed-endurance work and lactate work to run fast in the 800

It happened to a girl I used to coach (yes, her PR was slow). It was at the end of XC season and it was the first time I coached her. She jumped into an 800 in practice, with no warm-up and ran a PR. She only ran like 2:38, but still, the idea was that I had her run more mileage than she ever ran.

Increasing mileage could do it if you sre fairly slow and run low mileage.

I PR'd in the 800M and almost in the mile, during XC workouts that hit the track. I'm always in my best track/XC/whatever shape during the fall. It's because I stink badly on the trails/hills (even as a track distance guy). XC is my weakness, and working on it full time gave my running an overall lift. Even the 800M. It's probably why I tend to argue for the pro runners to run the fall season.

Obviously can especially if your fairly young(under 20) and aint been running long(3 years max).

When i was younger i seemed to pr every summer(through 800m training) and winter(through xc training). So it was like every 6 months from outdoors to indoors whatever i training i was doing!

depends on how long its been since you've run the 800. If it hasnt been since last track season and you've gained a lot more strength from the xc season then it would be realistic to say that you would pr in the 800 off of just base.

wat is ur 800 pr?

2:08

Absolutely possible! Like the other poster, porbably more common when you're younger and less experienced. I race really well off of mileage and strides.

Senior year of high school, my pr was 1:52. During my freshman year of college, we had a relay a few weeks outside of the cross country season. I went 53/1:51.3. Nothing great, but I was really happy with that - especially after the crummy cross country season!

Do you focus on form during your strides, or do you just go hard? Also, do you do them on the track, or slightly uphill?

Very possible. I went from 4:24 to 4:11 off base and hills, and a PR of 1:55 to 1:53 with that base, hills, and 2 track workouts of 800 reps @ mile pace. You've got a lot to look forward to.

fo shizzle wrote:

Do you focus on form during your strides, or do you just go hard? Also, do you do them on the track, or slightly uphill?

I just run at a fast (but relaxed) pace. I usually average around 14-15 seconds per 100, and I do them on a grass field that is flat.

BTW, I'm a senior in high school, if anyone's curious.

Depends... what do you feel holds you back more in races - your lungs or your legs? If it's lung capacity, you should be feeling fitter and shave off a few seconds. If it's power, try doing some supplementary strength work.

I know this kid!!!

This XC season I had a senior who was doing his last workout before the State Meet (so, it was his last XC workout for me). He ran 2x200's at the end of a harder workout with 400's and 800's.

I told him to run the 200's in 34 sec.

For the last one I said, "See what you could do." You know, it was an emotional day with his last workout and we're a close team.

He runs 26 sec wearing training shoes.

In track he couldn't do that in a workout with spikes, he was stuck at 28 (remember, this is at the end of a workout, not an all out 200 and he had 1:00 rest between reps the whole workout).

We (basically, the whole XC/track distance team was there) decided that in track we were going to train like in XC season.

We do tempo type runs- 4-6 miles with target times, strides, and hills. Recovery runs of 4-6 miles. We don't hit the track until the end of the season and that's usually 1000's, 800's, 600's.

This is the type of work that girl (above, another post) ran the 800 pr off of.

When she did it, she was standing there, not planning to run, but had running clothes and training shoes on. The one girl going to states (this is 5 years ago) was doing a couple 800's, she asked the girl to run with her, she refused, then said ok and stepped in- no warm-up, no stretching. She ran a PR. Again, it wasn't very fast, but it is all relative.

I agree that the faster and older you are the less likely this will work.

I do think that increasing mileage (for low mileage runners ( who run 30-40 mpw) will benefit everyone.

sec4coach wrote:...the older you are the less likely this will work.

My 800 isn't especially fast, but it's my "best" time (if you believe scoring tables etc), and I've only run the event three times (all at 41 years of age). I ran my best time without having ever run that pace in training. My preparation before that race was for a 10,000 that was supposed to go that evening, with mostly long reps from a little quicker than 5k pace to slower than HM pace.

If you're a little bit more fast twitch than slow twitch, as I am, I think you can run a fast (for you) 800 (even as an older guy) without a lot of classic 800 training (which I've never done).

I see what you mean. What I'm talking about is a 1:50 college runner or a 4:00 miler.

I don't think they would see the results like you did. Consider that you were an inexperienced 800 runner.

In the case of high school kids: if they are on a low mileage program (30 mpw) and increase it to 50 or so and don't get injured, I think they will improve.

I'm assuming that the 1:50 and 4:00 runners are doing the mileage it takes to get to that point.

As an extreme example, K Bekele is not going to get better off of the training we are talking about.

The High School runners I coach probably will- assuming they don't get hurt.

By this I mean, I have one girl who, whenever I "push" her above 3 miles per day, gets hurt. She simply isn't a runner (all of this is at 9:00 mile pace). Her 5K PR is 25 something. And her father told the AD that I undertrain her and won't give her a chance to be a decent runner- parent's, gotta love em- but I digress- sorry.

sec4coach wrote:Consider that you were an inexperienced 800 runner.

That's fair enough. Mind you I'm not an inexperienced runner, but I just decided to run an 800 last summer on a lark, had fun so ran a couple more.

I wasn't trying to claim any expertise in 800 preparation, btw, just relating my personal (limited) experience with the distance.

Could I run faster with 800 specific training? Maybe, I don't know. I was pretty pleased to run the time I did with no 800 training, though. It's a fun distance.

No problem, I understood what you meant. This is a very interesting discussion.

not after base

yes after xc season....unless your xc season is only base mileage and strides, and without any workouts or any races.

for sure, i had a outdoor pr of 2:01 soph year and ran 1:59 rite after cross junior yr. of course it probably is natural developement etc. the faster you are and the older you are the harder it is to do.