how many interval sessions a week for 400m runners?

This is what we do:

Non race week:

mon-longer session 5 x 300 3 min rec.or 500-400-300-200 etc.

tues-accleration/speed dev. 8 x flying 40

wed.-recovery/strides/

thurs-intermediate session: 6 x 150 fast/walk back rec.

fri- 2 or 3 x 300 @ full go with full recovery.

It's been pretty productive.

I really like that set up, what do you do on the Wed. recovery day, other than those strides?

4

Our recovery day is preceded by the full warm-up (jogging, dynamic drills, hurdle walkovers, fence drills etc). Then we might do some block work. While by definition, that would still fall under acceleration, we won't do much. Maybe 6 x starts of 30-40 meters. I am talking high school and the technical aspects of sprinting like block set-up would be done here. We might also do some relay exchanges (not many 4 x 100-that would no longer make it an easy day). The 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 stuff is pretty light. I whole heartedly believe that 400m types should for the most part train like a 100-200 runner with more volume in the training. You have got to be able to really turnover. Even the 400/800 types need to do speed developement (ie the flying 40's).

thanks

Here's what Michael Johnson/Jeremy Wariner's coach sets.

I do 3 a week currently

I might add, my seasons are probably different to yours (outdoor track runs from April to September) so right now I'm at the end of base (not doing indoor as I've been ill). It'll vary depending on the time of year and how much gym work/circuit training etc you're doing.

thanks very interesting

What are "flying 40s"?

no track chick im the same as you. I'm from England!

Kiddos wrote:

What are "flying 40s"?

Answer: 40m (formerly 40y, I suppose) at *top* speed, with a running ("flying") start--i.e. at the start of the 40 most of the acceleration has been done. For most people 40m is probably at the upper end of how long they can remain at or very, very near to top speed.

This kind of training should be alactic, so long recoveries (typically a few minutes of walking) are used. Similarly, the number of repetitions must be limited, so true top speed is hit within each rep.

Because this kind of training stresses the central nervous system (CNS), most athletes should have at least 48 hours between top-speed sessions--the CNS takes a while to recover from its depletion. (Actually, many may benefit more by having at least 72 hours between sessions.)

on Flying 40's (I like 30's better for high schoolers) the concept is to accelerate to top speed (or close) and then hold that speed for in the "40 meter zone" focusing on running fast, relaxed, good posture, sprint mechanics, etc. It's not really an acceleration drill, but more of a drill to be able to have good mechanics and hold top speed longer.

What about for middle school sprinters? ie 100 - 400 meter runners? Many aren't that specialized yet.

Here is what my sprinters are doing right now (high school, none advanced)

Mon: Intensive Tempo Endurance (6 x 150 @ 90%, walk back and stretch), Upper body weights

Tue: Aerobic Conditioning (3 x 800, 5 min rec or some sort of fartlek), Lower body weights

Wed: Drills and Field Event Work (recovery day)

Thu: Extensive Tempo Endurance (4 x 300, slow 100m walk and stretch)

Fri: Fitness Games (such as ultimate frisbee. We also do goofy relays including stuff like bear crawl, wheelbarrow, leapfrog, etc...), we will also do acceleration drills on fridays

Sat/Sun: The kids are encouraged to do an easy run of 2-4 miles based on ability

I have 2 aerobic days early season. We are a small school and in order to be competitive, our sprint types have to do 4 events, at each meet. Early aerobic conditioning allows us to recover well between the events and run or jump strong in 4 events.

I have been coaching 8 years at my current school. Our girls have been 4x4 league champs 5 of those 8 years. I'd say that this pre season works pretty well for us.

As we get into the season, Thursday's are our meet days, with an occasional saturday invite. Wed, continutes to be easy. Our aerobic conditioning drops off quite a bit, but we do maintenence. the Extstensive tempo stuff comes up to 3 x 500 with full recovery.

Let's take a girl who runs a 28.5 200 and 64-flat 400 as an example: What kind of pace are you having her do the aerobic conditioning 800s and extensive tempo endurance 300s? And how long does the recovery tend to be, timewise?

I actually have a girl who runs about those times. She is mainly a hurdler, but splits 64 low on the 4 x 4.

She is running her 300's in 55-57 seconds right now.

Today we did 6x150. She ran 22-23 seconds on all of them (30-31 for 200), but we had a big tail wind.

She is a sophomore, last year she wasn't terribly strong aerobically, but is more fit this year. We are doing our first 800s tomorrow. I would expect that she will be running 3:15-3:20, but wouldn't be surprised to see her below 3:10 for one or two of them.

Like I said, I'm only trying to develop aerobic strength for its recuperative properties during a meet. I don't expect that those 800's will win any awards among distance runners.