Running well at 800m with very little mileage

YOu may be a monster now but to see further improvement you must run more.

Your 400/800m speed ratio (49.4/56xx) isn't too bad considering your lack of runs but you could be running much faster. You are almost as fast as snell at 400m yet he ran the 800m a solid 8 seconds faster.

12 a week is sad. Thats like ten minutes of running a day. Step it up!

If this isn't a troll then I think you should already know the answer!

Firstly, 1.52 isn't that good at 18, so I wouldn't say your a monster! sorry

and secondly the English Schools mean bugger all. Talent will only get you so far then you have to put in hard work. You will get found out soon enough if you don't do your mileage, amoungst all the other training required to be at the top, especaially over 800. Anyone willing to put the work in that you are not will soon catch you up and surpass you.

You should have been conditioning your body over the last few years in order to handle extra mileage. As you haven't, you will probably not get too much quicker. You will then panic, train harder because people you were beating at school catch you up and overtake you, get demoralised, your body will probably break down if you step up training too much too soon and you will be another wasted talent.

Sorry but there is no other way except hard graft...get on with it!

Cheers

Sp8y

1:52 for an 18 year old=very good

1:52 for an 18 year old running a mile and a half a day=highly unusual.

I mean, that is almost WR pace for the mile off of almost no running.

So, in summary you are not a monster but might have the potential to become one.

It's always good to get the best performance you can out of your training. ie, no reason to run more than 12 miles/week if you are improving with just that. But once you stop improving then step it up.

[quote]fUrCeOsNhN wrote:

1:52 for an 18 year old=very good

quote]

Yeah... she'd win the Olympic 800m Final. You jerk!

I mean, that is almost WR pace for the mile off of almost no running.

Thats about as stupid as saying some kid who runs 50.5 secs for 400 is on world record pace for the 800. Actually it is as stupid.

Hell if that was the case Asafa Powell could just keep running past 100m and break the world record at 200, then that time would be on course for breaking the 400 world record, that would then put him well on course to break the 800 world record, and so on and so forth!

Are you a runner?

Sp8y

Agreed. He doesn't need to slam up the mileage, he needs to increase it when his performance stops improving (and increase it slowly, not dramatically and all at once).

actually, if asafa powell kept running past 100 and just double his 100 time, he would not have the 200 world record.

Just goes to show how tough it is! haha

Plus, I never said double his time, I said he would be on course for breaking the World record, because if he was running at the 100m world record off the bend then his increased velocity, compared to that of Mr Johnson, and if he had the strenght, would bring him home with a new World Record!

I do not know if you are a monster but your case shows that a 800m runner do not need a high mileage

Tell us about your 12 miles a week.

While your current bests indicate a high level of talent in terms of being a "monster" you may be a little short.

Wilson Kipketer ran the same 800m time as you at the tender age of 13. Kevin Sullivan ran it at age 14.

I could list a hundreds of guys who ran faster 1500ms than you have run at age 18.

I would assume you are doing lots of quality training like 10x400 , 4 x 600m , some gym / conditioning work etc.

You are now faced with a dilema:

I think you are pretty close to your ceiling in terms of what you can achieve with a quality only approach.

If you try and add more quality training you will most likely get injured or mentally burned out so you now need to change the whole way you train.

You built the roof before the house.

Bottom line is the top guys are doing heavy volume with heavy quality at exactly the right balance. If you want to elevate to that level you need to correct your current balance and add signicantly more volume.

Being based in the UK I suspect you have subscribed to the Coe approach which makes a lot of sense in terms of the quality work except everyone forgets and coe never mentions that his volume work went unrecorded as his so called "junk miles".

No it does not.

I can show you plenty of guys who can run a 1:52 off 12 miles of quality a week but cant show you any who can run 1:47 or faster off 12 miles a week.

To make the real improvments you need to have the volume in addition to the quality and the relationship is definitely not linear.

i looked you up and there is an Andrew Stanton who is 18 years old in England. He ran 2nd in the English Schools 800m final running the exact same time. He has pb's of 50.5 152.25 and 356. Sounds all true except the Lachlan bit is confusing me.

This guy:

http://www.britishmilersclub.com/rankings/performances.aspx?athleteid=7327

It sounds to me like he did have a base but stopped that in favor of just running "sessions" as he wrote. Not sure what he did during season but 3 or 4 workouts of 3 or 4 miles each would be enough to get through the season. He definitely didn't "leave his races in his workouts". Ha ha.

at 18 steven ovett was winning silver at the Euro champs running 1:45.7 - he would have been 50m in front of this guy

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Someone who runs a 1:52 800 is on pace for a 3:44 1600m. Is this what you are questioning?

Mentioning the 100/200/400m is pointless because those events do not require much aerobic base, which is what the kid is clearly lacking. Going half the distance of an event becomes harder the longer the event is. How hard is it to run the following times off of 12 miles a week...

21.5/200m

50.5/400m

1:51.5/800m

3:40/1500m

Obviously the first two are commonplace, the 800 is rare and the 1500m is unheard of.

What if a kid ran a 13:08.5 5k off of 12 miles a week? After all, that's the same thing according to you, as he's on pace for the 10k record.

He just needs the conditioning to maintain the pace for longer. Are you saying that someone who runs a 1:52.25 off 12 miles a week does not show a signifigent amount of talent?

Kipketer ran 1:52 aged 13??!! That's insane.!!