Could I lower my 200m time from 25 to 22.5-9 in one year?

If all you can run is a 25 in the 200....you will never break 50 if all you do is try to sprint. YOU ARENT A SPRINTER so dont bother.

YOu need to train and race like a 400/800 guy. The weightroom isnt gonna help that much.

Join the CC team for the fall.......winter is lifting and running hills......race the 800 every meet (Either the 4x8 or open 800), race the 400 every meet (open 400 or 4x400). Alternate fresh races on those distances.

Needing Direction wrote:

this is fantastic help guys, thanks so much. I will be removing my distance runs in the morning but i have a question of when exactly I should do sprints/hillwork.

Right now, I see three options but I don't know which one will give me the most benefit:

I can't avoid XC practice at all with my team - I'm the captain, unfortunately.

1) Sprints and hillwork in the morning instead of distance runs

2) Sprints and hillwork AFTER xc practice in the late afternoon/evening

3) Both sprints and hillwork in the morning and after XC practice.

Does anyone know which option will be most effective? Thanks

#1. I wouldn't do sprints/hillwork after xc practice and I certainly wouldn't do them 2x a day - either is a recipe for injury.

plyos sonny boy wrote:

dont use leg curl and leg extension machines unless you want to get hurt. they put too much stress on specific muscles and not enough on others, so either you will hurt something while lifting, or your legs will become unbalanced in strength and you will get hurt while running. do aggressive plyometric workouts. they build explosive muscle better than just about anything and you dont need heavy weights to do them, just your body weight or maybe some like medicine balls and/or light dumbells. focus on form. plyos will build a healthy, even muscle strength ratio, helping to reduce injury and build fast-twitch muscle.

First of all, plyos are very high risk, and far less effective at increasing muscular strength than is weight training.

. Rule #1 of training: Do Not Get Injured.

Second, leg curls are not dangerous. Leg extensions *are* potentially dangerous, as they can erode articular cartilage under the kneecap, but I do not advocate leg extensions primarily because they are an inferior exercise--squats, or some variation thereof, are for more effective at overloading the quads than are LEs. In addition, of course, the glutes, hams, calves and lower back are all stressed by squats...

You better run the 800 wrote:

If all you can run is a 25 in the 200....you will never break 50 if all you do is try to sprint. YOU ARENT A SPRINTER so dont bother.

YOu need to train and race like a 400/800 guy. The weightroom isnt gonna help that much.

Join the CC team for the fall.......winter is lifting and running hills......race the 800 every meet (Either the 4x8 or open 800), race the 400 every meet (open 400 or 4x400). Alternate fresh races on those distances.

As much as I want to believe i'll have a better chance increasing my top speed through sprint work, this guy is right. My body "type" leans more to mid-distance races. As a result, I'll be following this workout regime from steve "red" on some other thread, which primarily aims at the 800, for morning workouts and then XC practice after:

Saturday: Tempo run of 2-4 miles plus a warm-up & cool-down

Sunday: Rest day

Monday: easy 4 - 6 miles as you feel

Tuesday: hills (either continuous run on hilly course or intervals uphill on 200-600 hill walk down recovery)

Wednesday: Rest day

Thursday: speed work warm-up w/ strides 1st week 8x200 2nd week 6x400 3rd week 4x800 take as much recovery as you feel you need up to twice the time of the interval cool-down with a mile walking and/or jogging

Friday: easy 4 - 6 miles as you feel

Total miles per week: 20 - 28 to start

Run 200’s @ 30-35, 400’s @ 66-77, 800’s @ 2:48 +/-

Even with a bit of tweaking and personalizing to match my , do you think this could be severe overtraining for someone like me? The schedule looks like i could still fit weightlifting on MWF, seeing that those days are either rest or easy runs. Thanks for any advice.