Any chance I can go under 1:55 in the 800?

1/10

not sure what you are going for here

nobody runs a 2 flat 8, a 4:55 16, and 16:54 5k

well I only run the 1600 rarely and as you can see my stamina is a lot better this year (18:20-16:54 5k) so I'm guessing that my 1600 would be a lot faster now.

if your 52/200/1654 are legit, you should have no problem hitting 155

You have pretty good basic speed, which you can maintain and develop further year-round by doing short (30-40m) hard sprints with full recovery. What you really need is more genuine endurance to go with the speed. Get that base in over the winter, start doing reps and drop the mileage back, and you will easily get close to your goal.

Alright Thank you guys. Do you think lifting would help as well? I seem to have weakness in my quads/hammies and I thought strengthening those might help. Just to give a little information the reason I want to run sub 1:55 is because that is our school record and I have a deep distane for the guy who set it.

Frank Reynolds wrote:

if your 52/200/1654 are legit, you should have no problem hitting 155

^This. The rule of thumb is subtract 7 seconds from your 800 time to gauge 800 time.

What?

RunnerGuy407 wrote:

Alright so as you can tell from the title I want to go under 1:55. My Pr's so far are as follows 52.8 400 2:00.5 800 4:55 1600 and 16:54 5k. last year in cross country I ran in between 25-35 mpw and ran 18:20 for the 5k this year I did about 30-40 mpw and ran the 16:54. So I'm wondering if I get up to 50 mpw over winter do you guys think it's possible? I did about 35 mpw last year during winter and did to much speed work and peaked early last year so I'm going to keep the speed stuff to a minimal till the season starts. During season I averaged about 20-25 mpw in season however we are getting a new coach so mileage will be possible in season this year. any and all comments are appreciated.

Do you run indoor?

If your sole focus is the 800, I really don't think you need to run 50+ miles a week this winter, especially since you've never run over 40. I would keep your mileage in the 35-40 range, but try to increase the quality of your training runs. I'd also add some very short tempos, ie 2-4 miles @ 5:50 pace or faster to continue to build off the strength you have from XC. I do think you should be doing some speed work though (ie 150s or 200m repeats once a week), but keep it lighter early and build into the more intense stuff, ie 500, 300, 200 x 2 @ goal race pace etc once you are 4 weeks out from the start of competition.

Seems possible, but maybe not likely. Shoot for breaking 1:57 first.

I was pointing out how dumb "Frank Reynolds" has been so far in this thread, obviously.

My main goal is the 800 however this year I won't be able to avoid doing the 1600 since we don't have anyone great and my head coach knows my stamina has gotten better. But I still want to do at least about 40 mpw week because I just feel stronger/ more confident but I probably will take your advice about the tempos and short speed work.

andy1564 wrote:

subtract 7 seconds from your 800 time to gauge 800 time.

The advice you have gotten so far from most in this thread is backwards. Mostly because it is probably from guys jogging 5ks on the weekend. If you want to run under 1:55 then your 400 needs to come down. Your endurance is fine. My 800m best was 1:51 and I never ran faster than you in the 5k.

What was your 400 pr? did you run cross country?

RunnerGuy407 wrote:

My main goal is the 800 however this year I won't be able to avoid doing the 1600 since we don't have anyone great and my head coach knows my stamina has gotten better. But I still want to do at least about 40 mpw week because I just feel stronger/ more confident but I probably will take your advice about the tempos and short speed work.

Right. Running the 1600 will be good for you. In the long term, if you plan to run in college, you have more upside for longer distances, but I'm sure you already know that. At the college level, if you don't have sub 50 second speed in the 400, then you aren't going to be particularly competitive. In high school, 52 is fast enough to run in the mid 150s though if you have a strong aerobic base and you are tough. I was a 16/32 guy, but I was still able to run 156 off that training just off of strength and 52.xx 400 speed.

What was your 1600 time like? For the record last year was my first time running a 400 since 8th grade (I'm a senior now) so I think I can still improve my 400 as well.

RunnerGuy407 wrote:

What was your 1600 time like? For the record last year was my first time running a 400 since 8th grade (I'm a senior now) so I think I can still improve my 400 as well.

4:14. I consistently split 52s on our 4x400 relay my junior and senior year. Obviously never did any training for that or anything specific for the 800 either for that matter. If you ran a 52 second 400 in 8th grade, then you could probably run in the mid 50.xxs now at a minimum, I'd guess. That's solid speed and there's really no excuse for you not to have already run under 2 flat.

Are you running indoor? If not, when does outdoor start? What's your coach like?

lawguy wrote:

RunnerGuy407 wrote:

What was your 1600 time like? For the record last year was my first time running a 400 since 8th grade (I'm a senior now) so I think I can still improve my 400 as well.

4:14. I consistently split 52s on our 4x400 relay my junior and senior year. Obviously never did any training for that or anything specific for the 800 either for that matter. If you ran a 52 second 400 in 8th grade, then you could probably run in the mid 50.xxs now at a minimum, I'd guess. That's solid speed and there's really no excuse for you not to have already run under 2 flat.

Are you running indoor? If not, when does outdoor start? What's your coach like?

edit, just reread your post and saw you ran that 52 last year. You probably don't have 50 flat speed then, but still high 51/low 52 speed is still plenty fast to run mid 150s. I coached a kid a couple of years ago who only ran 52 low in the open 4, but ran 154.6 in the open 8. At the mid 150s level, its just a matter of being strong enough/tough enough to make up anything you lack in raw speed. Once you get down around 152-3, the raw speed starts to become more of a requirement as opposed to a luxury, imo.

Frank Reynolds wrote:

1/10

not sure what you are going for here

nobody runs a 2 flat 8, a 4:55 16, and 16:54 5k

Nah those were basically my PR's when i was younger. 2:02, 4:35 and 16:45. i believe him