3:45 1500m Training

Hello, I am a former 3:37 1500m runner and 3:55 miler indoors. In college i ran 3:42 and 3:59. Leading up to my 3:37 I can remember key components such as:

- 6 Weeks of aerobic training consisting of one steady state run (started at 20:00 and built up to around 35-40 minutes at a controlled pace, maybe 5:10 working down to 5:00) and one session later in the week of 6-8x a 10 second steep hill all out with full recovery. A long run also of about 80-90 minutes of high end aerobic running - usually finishing the last 16 minutes nearing steady state pace. The filler days in between were also high quality aerobic running...no jogging or milling around, and lots of natural progression runs. I was running 75ish miles a week give or take a few

- 4 weeks of quality aerobic training with true tempo runs of 20:00-25:00 minutes. I could average well below 5:00 miles on these runs, when getting into shape i remember taking it down towards 4:45 feeling smooth. The second session of the week now alternated between an EASY, LIGHT 8x200 session at mile pace with ample recovery or 15-20 minutes worth of barefoot diagonals still while averaging in the 70s along with a QUALITY long run. In addition, I recall lots and lots of strides. Almost every day i strided out 8-10x after easy runs and stretched. Left me feeling great on my filler days to get some quality aerobic efforts.

- 2 Weeks of transitioning to Vo2 max and Anaerobic work. The Tempo runs turned into 8-10k worth of 1k-2k repeats at 10k type effort, and the second session now a mixed variation fartlek between 5k and steady state pace. Now around 70mpw. The long run was still key but it was held at 80:00 and i remember closing the last 20:00 very strong. I ran a rave at the end of this cycle to see what my base had culminated in and ran 3:42 for 1500m.

- 5 Weeks of hard anaerobic work: i was a big fan of Seb Coe type multipace training, hitting workouts at 800-5k pace (I was a 15/5k type rathe rather than an 8/15 type). I can remember sessions like (500, 400, 300, 200, 100) x2 at mile pace dropping down all the way to sessions like 10x600 at 5k pace or 8x600 at 3k pace. Then my second session of the week was usually something lighter but still intense like floating the curves/sprinting the straights for 2 miles or running barefoot 200s on a grass loop in sets of 5 descending the pace each set starting at 36-34-32-30-28 and below. Not taxing, just shaking out the system. It was during this period in which i ran a couple tune up races that were over distance and under distance. I believe i ran a 5k in 13:39, a 5 mile Road Race in 22:45ish and an 800 in 1:47low. Long run decreased to about 70-75 minutes but still held qaulity and mileage went down to 65. I frequently floated 150s after easy runs at 3k-800 pace for turnover.

- I then spent the last two weeks running some light 12-18 minute tempos at 4:45ish pace and floated some 300s at mile pace just to keep the legs moving before peaking for a 3:37

No weights, swam a fair amount, ate healthy, lots of sleep, and some easy 20:00 shakeout runs in the morning loosened my legs up.

Cheers

wow, it's rare to see a response this insightful on here these days (thinking back to threads like the sub 1:50 800m). nevertheless, it's nice to know i can still find advice like this, thanks for sharing!

I agree. That was pretty good

bump

West Coast Runner -- Thanks a bunch. I'm sort of tempted to ask you what your final 8 weeks looked like. I'm heading in the final 8 weeks of my season, and haven't really touched upon any mile pace, mostly 3k-5ktype workouts with 200-300's @ 800pace after, hills, and a tempo every 2-3 weeks. At this point, is it worth it to run a strict 1500m based workout, or hit overspeed and run strict 800m pace workouts to allow 1500m pace to feel easier?

I'd say a typical week for me at the hard 5 week phase leading up to my goal race looked something like :

Monday: 8m moderate and progressive (working towards 6:00 pace maybe under) followed by 8-10x light strides

Tuesday: (600,500,400,300,200,100)x2 @ mile pace down to 800

meter pace with an equal distance recovery jog and maybe 4:00 jog between sets. Optional sub set afterwards of 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 50. At 800m down to 400m pace. 7-8 mile day

Wednesday: 6 Miles easy pace

Thursday: 10 miles moderate progressive followed by 6-7x flying 150s at a hard sprint pace

Friday: 800m race or a 5k session (ex: 1600, 1200, 800, 400) x 2 with half distance jog. 8m

Saturday: 3AM, 6PM easy with strides afterwards of 100m

Sunday: 16 miles hard aerobic.. working down to mid 5 minute range feeling strong.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask more as i dug ip my old log.

Try this one. 5 x 500m @ 3.45 pace - so 1.15 for each rep. Now the recovery is based on a 3 min cycle. For example, you get 3 mins to do the first rep and to recover. Once that 3 mins is up you start rep 2, and so on. In theory the quicker the rep, the more recovery you get but try stick to 1.15s therefore a 1.45s recovery. Good luck!

awesome stuff. well done.

Ran 3:45.89 my senior year... will post some workouts when I have time to go back and look at my log. Good thread going.

This is awesome guys, I appreciate it. I like the 600m breakdown workout. Sort of incorporates both mile and 800m pace into one workout. As of now, here are my 1500m sessions for the next 4 weeks, let me know what you guys think:

1)4x600m @ 1:32 w/400 jog

2)2x4x400m @ 62 1st set/60 2nd set w/60sec rest and 4min between sets

3)3x 600m + 3x200m @ 1:32/27 w/90sec rest and 60sec rest between 200's with 5min between sets

4)16x200m @ 28 w/200jog

5)800m @ 2:00 w/5min rest + 2x400m @ 60 w/60sec rest -- 4min rest-- 600m @ 1:30 w/3min rest + 2x400m @ 60 w/60sec rest

These are tentative, but follow the sort of progression I'd expect to make as my season continues.

you are close, but those workouts are not quite hard enough.

Add at least 1. more 600 (maybe 2)

add another 400 to the sets (5x400)

run 1000m @ 2:30 on the day you run 12x200;

for the last one, try 1200-3:03, 800-2:01,600-1:28,400-58 4-5 min rest

Make sure you squeeze in 1 tempo each two weeks.

Good luck

West Coast Runner: Was the 1500 your specialty? I am looking to run under 13:40 for 5k this summer and was wondering if you had any ideas on workouts. Thanks in advance.

Van Wilder: in college and early on post collegiately i focused on 1500 with maybe one 8 and two to three 3k-8k type races. After a few years i moved up to more a 5k specialist with an occasional 3k and then two to three 8k, 10k, or even a 12k XC race here and there. So in short, yes, i moved up to the 5k as a specialty. After moving up I came away with a 13:27 PR. In theoretically and philosophically my training did not change all that much, it was essentially the same training on higher mileage (90-95 during base as opposed to 80 as a 1500m runner and 75 during season as opposed to 65) as well as a lot less 800/400m type workouts and a lot more 5k/10k type workouts. I was a much more strength oriented runner. I can recall supersets and workouts like:

-10x600 @ 5k pace

- (2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 400) (1000, 800, 600, 400, 200) 1st set at 10k pace, second at 5k pace.

- 8k on a 1k loop alternating each k between 10k and steady state pace so: 2:48 and 3:00

- 2x(1000, 800, 600, 400, 200) at 3k pace

Need some help, looking to run a sub 4 1500 over the next month, pr 4:05. I worked up to 100 mpw over 4 months and spent the last month doing lots of steady running and 3-5k type intervals and here are some recent workouts

3 x (600,400,300,200)

(1:42, 67, 49,33) (1:40, 66, 47, 31) (1:41, 65, 47, 30)

3 x mile w/ 3min rest (5:06, 4:55, 4;48)

16x200 relaxed (32-33) w/200 jog

8x600 w/200 jog hit 1:45-46

4x mile w/ 90 sec jog 5:14, 5:03, 5:06, 5:07

also stuff like 150s in 20-21

You simply need to do some specific speed work; 3x800@2:08;

5x600@ !:36

2 sets 1k+500 @ 64 pace.

Bump. LetsRun needs more threads like this

WCR & AC, thanks much for your comments. Do you feel stand around recoveries (slow walking around) are fine for the 1500m and 5k? How can I determine the right length of recoveries?

make sure everyone reads the kate grace interview on homepage. Great overview of making the jump to elite, and consistent with the sub 1:50 thread.

First, I think a general discussion of where you're coming from / people came from the season they ran 3:45 is helpful. I was a 4:18 high school guy junior and senior year (injury-plagued senior year) that then under-performed freshman and sophomore year of college (3:59 1500 p.r. going into junior year).

Had a breakthrough junior year but still only ran 3:51. Was fortunate enough to stay healthy all of XC senior year which was big and got down to 25:01 8k. Consistent 80 mile weeks most of XC and 70-80 most of indoor season and even into outdoor senior year, with some down weeks as low as 55 while racing. For me, I think this aerobic base was huge even though it might have impaired my indoor season as I never really felt "sharp" (best race indoors was an 8:27 3k).

Outdoors, I P.R.'d in 3 successive 1500's from early April on, going 3:48 / 3:47 / finally 3:45.89 at the Georgia Tech meet in mid-May. I think this is important because even if you're in shape to run 3:45, you're most likely going to need several cracks at it to put it all together unless you're in significantly better than 3:45 shape. I also got an 800 leg at Penn (1:54.1) and a 3k in there for over-distance, and of course tactical 1500's at conference - that was big too - closing in 55.2, even when you're only running 4:01 or so in a tactical race, is huge for your confidence to be able to run consistent 60's.

As far as workouts, the one that sticks out where I really "knew" I was in that type of shape was 11 days out. 1k in 2:43, 200 jog, 400 in 59, 400 jog, 400 in 59, 400 jog, 1k in 2:43, 600 jog, 6x200 in 28-29 going every 1:00. That and a solid taper the last 2 weeks (55 and 46 miles) got me ready to go. I agree with the above posters about getting a 20-25 minute tempo in there every 2 weeks or so. We would always do a 4 mile tempo in the middle of our long runs (at least 13 miles) on a pretty hilly gravel course. These were the bane of my existence, but when I got really fit, I could still probably average 5:20's with a heart rate average in the mid-to-high 170's.