Sub 1:50 800m Training

Also incorporating Hadd style heart rate training on easy runs and workouts is a great way to make sure you are properly recovering and a good way to watch you’re cardiovascular efficiency progress over the season.

Some feedback / results of self experimenting with the interval based method... aerobic and cardiovascular capacity skyrocketed. Started with training back in october 19 after 4 years of doing nothing. I run mostly on trails or a soccer field, managed to remain "almost" 100% injury free. I am training on average 5 times a week, sometimes more if work allows for it. Lock down has not been that hard, thus was able to keep training albeit w/o pool or gym nor track.

Oct - Dec:

3x8x100m w/ jogback recovery @ 18s-19s
15x100m w/ 20s standing rest @ 18s-19s
3x5x150m w/ 35s standing rest
2x8x200m w/ jogback recovery (38s, 1m15 jog back)
3x3x300m w/ 1m standing rest, anywhere between 52s-56s depending on how was feeling.

As a rule of thumb, 50% was jog back recovery, 50% standing recovery.

2/3x weekly 6-8km continuous run at 5:15-4:50/km pace.

For workouts warm up always 3km jog, cool down 1,5km. Max km / week 40km, average 30km.

1 x week swim with 30s on / 30s off, in a 3x6 schema. Kept this until lockdown in March.

Jan - Mar:
Started with KitKats 400m trainings. For those unfamiliar with it, it includes stuff like:

4x3x150m 1st rep jog back, 2nd walk, 3rd jog as "aerobic work"
300+50-40-30 / 200-40-30-20 /100m-40-30-20 ladders for lactic capacity
300+150, 150+150 with long recoveries
3x3x300 w/ 1 min rec standing

Was hitting the 150s anywhere between 21,0s and 24,0s on grass from standing. The training is very hard and I did not even try the hill sprinting it includes, also reduced these sessions to once per week.

Added quickly SE1 work like 3x4x50m w/ 1:45-2:30 rest since had trouble hitting 13s in 100m from standing (!). Pure interval work limited to these SE1 split runs (HR always at 140 after pauses) and recovery days. Is a good way to work on speed when no indoors available and temperature bellow freezing...

Also started with speed bounding and more lifting work.

"Easy days" 2 or 3x6x100m @ 17-20s w/ 20 sec standing recovery depending on how was feeling. Never two hard days in a row. As much as possible on grass, no indoors available. Warm ups for workouts still about 2,5kg jog.

Average km / week 25

Results in 6 months, being 29yo:
BW: 82kg -› 79kg
HR rest: 55 bpm -› 46 bpm
Warm up pace (while fresh): 5:30m/km —› 4:45/km
"Pain barrier" -› 4:35m/km –› 3:50m/km
6x150 from standing on grass: 28s w/40s standing rest -› 26s w/20s standing rest
8x200 w/ 2 min rec from standing on grass: (january -› april) 33s [email protected] after rec-› 27s, [email protected] after rec
300m @ 42s: required pause went from 8 minutes to 3 minutes until next rep
3x300m w/1 min walking rec, from standing track: 53s -› 48s (did not push it hard in april, I think 47,0s is doable)
3x6x100m from standing on grass, 40s recovery: 18,0s -› 15,0
Standing 150m on track and spikes: 20,0s (january -› april)-› 18,6s
50m fly w/ 15m run in on track and spikes: (january -› may) 6,00s -› 5,4s
Squat: 3x6x90kg -› 4x120kg

Worth to mention that 8 years ago I was able to run 100m in 11.10 FAT and the 50m flys in under 5s... while my speed is down I would say by 10% as an effect of age and lazyness, my recovery times are down by 50% wrt the times when I was actively training.
Especialy during these lactic workouts I am unable to feel the lactic acid burning as I used too. I think my speed is down that much and my aerob capacity up that I am not able to hit speeds high enough... BTW I hate continuous slow running, so I think that my "pain barrier" actually could be faster than stated here with some weeks of preparation.

Also, I think that most of the speed regains are from remembering again how to coordinate my legs at speed, rather than from the training itself.

---

faivala wrote:
Some feedback / results of self experimenting with the interval based method... aerobic and cardiovascular capacity skyrocketed. Started with training back in october 19 after 4 years of doing nothing. I run mostly on trails or a soccer field, managed to remain "almost" 100% injury free. I am training on average 5 times a week, sometimes more if work allows for it. Lock down has not been that hard, thus was able to keep training albeit w/o pool or gym nor track.

Oct - Dec:

3x8x100m w/ jogback recovery @ 18s-19s
15x100m w/ 20s standing rest @ 18s-19s
3x5x150m w/ 35s standing rest
2x8x200m w/ jogback recovery (38s, 1m15 jog back)
3x3x300m w/ 1m standing rest, anywhere between 52s-56s depending on how was feeling.

As a rule of thumb, 50% was jog back recovery, 50% standing recovery.

2/3x weekly 6-8km continuous run at 5:15-4:50/km pace.

For workouts warm up always 3km jog, cool down 1,5km. Max km / week 40km, average 30km.

1 x week swim with 30s on / 30s off, in a 3x6 schema. Kept this until lockdown in March.

Jan - Mar:
Started with KitKats 400m trainings. For those unfamiliar with it, it includes stuff like:

4x3x150m 1st rep jog back, 2nd walk, 3rd jog as "aerobic work"
300+50-40-30 / 200-40-30-20 /100m-40-30-20 ladders for lactic capacity
300+150, 150+150 with long recoveries
3x3x300 w/ 1 min rec standing

Was hitting the 150s anywhere between 21,0s and 24,0s on grass from standing. The training is very hard and I did not even try the hill sprinting it includes, also reduced these sessions to once per week.

Added quickly SE1 work like 3x4x50m w/ 1:45-2:30 rest since had trouble hitting 13s in 100m from standing (!). Pure interval work limited to these SE1 split runs (HR always at 140 after pauses) and recovery days. Is a good way to work on speed when no indoors available and temperature bellow freezing...

Also started with speed bounding and more lifting work.

"Easy days" 2 or 3x6x100m @ 17-20s w/ 20 sec standing recovery depending on how was feeling. Never two hard days in a row. As much as possible on grass, no indoors available. Warm ups for workouts still about 2,5kg jog.

Average km / week 25

Results in 6 months, being 29yo:
BW: 82kg -› 79kg
HR rest: 55 bpm -› 46 bpm
Warm up pace (while fresh): 5:30m/km —› 4:45/km
"Pain barrier" -› 4:35m/km –› 3:50m/km
6x150 from standing on grass: 28s w/40s standing rest -› 26s w/20s standing rest
8x200 w/ 2 min rec from standing on grass: (january -› april) 33s [email protected] after rec-› 27s, [email protected] after rec
300m @ 42s: required pause went from 8 minutes to 3 minutes until next rep
3x300m w/1 min walking rec, from standing track: 53s -› 48s (did not push it hard in april, I think 47,0s is doable)
3x6x100m from standing on grass, 40s recovery: 18,0s -› 15,0
Standing 150m on track and spikes: 20,0s (january -› april)-› 18,6s
50m fly w/ 15m run in on track and spikes: (january -› may) 6,00s -› 5,4s
Squat: 3x6x90kg -› 4x120kg

Worth to mention that 8 years ago I was able to run 100m in 11.10 FAT and the 50m flys in under 5s... while my speed is down I would say by 10% as an effect of age and lazyness, my recovery times are down by 50% wrt the times when I was actively training.
Especialy during these lactic workouts I am unable to feel the lactic acid burning as I used too. I think my speed is down that much and my aerob capacity up that I am not able to hit speeds high enough... BTW I hate continuous slow running, so I think that my "pain barrier" actually could be faster than stated here with some weeks of preparation.

Also, I think that most of the speed regains are from remembering again how to coordinate my legs at speed, rather than from the training itself.

---

Small correction: the 6x150 @ 26s requires now 30s recovery, I wrote 20s in my original post. Swimming workouts help a lot for recovery if you take care of not using the legs too much (crawl is good) and can still get an excellent cardiovascular / pulmonar effort.

Also worth to mention, if someone tries it, you will hate being alive in some workouts, especially the 3x3x300 or 3x6x150 in the cold can be very painfull and hard after some years of no training... Continuous jogging is definitely a more agreeable way of training especially if you have a nice landscape to look at.