Jog the straights, run "sprint" the curves

Why the hell wouldn't you sprint the straights if you had a choice in the matter?

oh yah, i mixed that up, sorry. What he said.

I would say it's a farlek. I've done it before and I enjoy fartleks. However, it would be better to sprint the straights and jog the curves.

too structured to be 'speed play' I've actually never heard of fartleking on the track although I suppose you could.

Running the turns and striding the straights gives a good work out. On modern tracks the curves are as long as 120m and the straights 80m so along with learning to run on the turn you rest less and run more for each lap.

Sounds like the OP is thinking of a malmo story of how Rono ran his 5,000 WR.

Actually i've never heard that story. I never thought about the length difference. I always assumed the rest and nonrest portions were of equal length.

I was running today and trying to think of a workout and that one just sort of hit me. We used to do it in the post season in HS with good results. I know one of my teammates used as a final workout before qualifying for FLN. I always really liked it so I figured maybe I'd do it this week before the JP morgan corporate challenge. I was just having trouble placing what type of workout it is.

I'm assuming a decent jog on the straights, no putting around. Maybe just a tad below regular run pace.7:45-7:15.

It may be a good, lighter workout, but you'd be foolish to think it had much to do with your friend's success. A single workout doesn't give results, it's all of the miles and workouts leading up to that point. If you're a week out from a big race, the work has already been done and the only thing you could do with one workout is maintain what you've got or screw something up.

Better to float the bends pretty hard, make it a tough session of continous running. its to long to be a quality speed session.

Am I Crazy? wrote:

Jog the straights, sprint the curves for 3-5 miles (almost) 12-20 laps.

What type of workout is this considered?

And do you like it / enjoy it?

i would call it a farlek and or strides.

i used to do this the day after meets to work on form, and strecth out the legs.

onenutwillie wrote:

On modern tracks the curves are as long as 120m and the straights 80m

Maybe on a modern world class, purpose built track-only track, but most tracks you find around at schools and such will have the straights and corners pretty much the same length, if not even having the corners shorter than the straights, due to the fact that they have to fit a football/soccer field in the middle. If you really want to be exact about 100m of jogging and running, just use the markings for 4x1 (if its marked at all).

Bob Schul would sometimes do that when he trained under Igloi ("Run with the champions" p. 46).

Kele wrote:

It may be a good, lighter workout, but you'd be foolish to think it had much to do with your friend's success. A single workout doesn't give results, it's all of the miles and workouts leading up to that point. If you're a week out from a big race, the work has already been done and the only thing you could do with one workout is maintain what you've got or screw something up.

Whoever said a single workout gave them success? I didn't. I said they did it before qualifying for FLN, i.e. it was one of the final peaking workouts.

Oh by the way thanks for pointing out the obvious. You're a real bright guy.

I'll do a workout like this along with 30 or 40 minutes of easy running at the end of base training to get the legs turning over a little for the start of harder workouts. I consider it to be more of a long strider session than an actual workout.

migo wrote:

onenutwillie wrote:

On modern tracks the curves are as long as 120m and the straights 80m

Maybe on a modern world class, purpose built track-only track, but most tracks you find around at schools and such will have the straights and corners pretty much the same length, if not even having the corners shorter than the straights, due to the fact that they have to fit a football/soccer field in the middle.

You're right in noting that really round tracks are hard to find but it's not because of football/soccer fields, it's because long curves are a recent development. Actually, modern tracks are much better for fitting fields inside.

Had a training partner of mine (28:06 10k runner) run a 9:22 two mile doing what he called "straights and bends." It was a warm up for his 10 x 400 meter lunch break workout... Talented bastard!

We used to do telephone pole fartlek as a transitional workout before track season really got going - settle into a steady pace out in the flats on the edge of town, pick it up for 2-3 telephone or light poles, settle back to steady pace for 1-2 poles - steady, not jogging. Great transitional workout, but completely wrong for sharpening up for post-season.

Taters Prescious wrote:

Great transitional workout, but completely wrong for sharpening up for post-season.

Okay, that may be true, depending on what the distance was between telephone poles. However, Lydiard had a sharpening (aka "post-season") workout that consisted of X repetitions of sprinting ~50m and floating ~50m. Seemed to work for his guys (and mine).

I always thought this was called a Johnny Walker workout.

Sounds like the OP is thinking of a malmo story of how Rono ran his 5,000 WR.

I think Rono actually did this at the '78 NCAAs in Eugene, a month or so after his 13:08 WR. Henry ran a 13:21 in the 5k heats, sprinting the straights and cruising the turns. I believe he won the steeple in that meet, may have won the 10K and then skipped the 5k final. Wish I could have witnessed that. That '78 season was amazing.

I don't think it's that great a workout. If you're trying to improve speed you should be jog for at least 2-300 meters. And the length isn't long enough to improve anything aerobic or anaerobic so it's basically completely worthless if it's not intense sharpening workout or an easy workout to get the legs turning over. That's JMO, feel free to disagree.