800 workouts

Those percentages are based on out of date information. Below is a post in which Ingrid Kritiansen talks about the correct percentages. Also consider what Renato Canova wrote on another post. When the elite 800 meter runners he and other coaches worked with did too much anaerobic training improvement didn't take place; however, when training became more aerobic in nature, significant improvement took place. Also take a look at Steve Scott's training log and see how much aerobic training he did compared to anaerobic training.

http://ingrid-kristiansen.com/holisticfitness/running.htm

i have joe vigils book here and it says the 800 is 55% aerobic, 45% anaerobic. who is right??

Here's a good one to do when you're getting ready to peak.

1. 400m @ first quarter pace for 800m.

2. jog 250 meters.

3. sprint last 150m.

Do up to 3 sets of this. When ready to peak, do one set, but make the 400m near all out.

ohgeez wrote:

i have joe vigils book here and it says the 800 is 55% aerobic, 45% anaerobic. who is right??

Vigil's book is out of date and uses old information. The technology to measure such things in those days was pretty poor.

Gastin did a lit review (peer reviewed papers) and from his graph you can see that an event lasting 100 seconds (world record type 800) is 60% aerobic energy. If you lengthen the time out as would happen as the level of the athlete drops, the percentage only grows.

IAAF in the New Studies in Athletics published some research showing higher than previous thought aerobic contribution. The paper is at home (should keep a copy at work) so I cannot remember the values (just got the section of that issue the other day).

I also heard of a killer workout that coe did (3x800 1:50 with 5m rest) Has anyone else heard of this>

I know that this session from Coe is widely reported, but my god, if it is true - that is f***ing amazing. Im sure some of the others who post here and have seen/trained with top Kenyan 5-10km guys, will attest, that many would struggle to complete a session like this - with 45 seconds rest!!!!!!

One of the only sessions that Kipketer has let slip is the 2 x 20x200 at race speed with 45 rest.

how about this one

1000m @ 64/400 rest 90sec 200 @26

800m @ 62/400 rest 90sec 200 @26

600m @ 59/400 rest 90sec 200 @26

400m @ 56/400 rest 90 sec 200 @26

. wrote:

I know that this session from Coe is widely reported, but my god, if it is true - that is f***ing amazing. Im sure some of the others who post here and have seen/trained with top Kenyan 5-10km guys, will attest, that many would struggle to complete a session like this - with 45 seconds rest!!!!!!

The 7X800 with 45 sec rest was a single session that Horwill apparently had Coe do with a top 5K guy. Coe did a weekly 5K pace session of 4X1500 at roughly 13:10 5K pace. Bob Kennedy did something like 8X800 in 2:00-2:02 but with longer rest. Any 5K guy running at 13:00 or faster needs to be running 3.1 miles continuously at about 4:10/mile, so running intervals in 2:05 with short rest is just a normal workout--if they can't do this, they also can't run 13:00. This is not 800 pace work. This is 5000 pace work.

For 800, there are common workouts like:

3 X 4 X 200, 45 sec rest

6 X 300, 3 min rest (reduce gradually to 60-90 sec)

3 X 400, almost all out, 15 minute rest.