Two Months to Train: 800m

Do a Kosmin test and report your distance in each phase.

60 seconds all out, exactly 3 min rest, 60 seconds all out again from where you finished 1st 60 seconds.

Thank you! I will try that Friday I think (leg lifting later today)

I will post the inevitably embarrassing results

You don't have time for tests now.

We have to assume that your speed and alactic capacity are good enough. But you have zero endurance, zero stamina, low VO2max and low anaerobic capacity. You won't have time to work on endurance and stamina. Skip that. To build your anaerobic capacity you need 3-4 weeks. And to not get injured you need three weeks of hill work first. This you will combine with VO2max work. That means both long hills (3-4 minutes) and short hills. Take a couple of weeks to build up to these fairly hard interval sessions.

This leaves us with 2 weeks introduction with some moderate 5k-paced work, 3 weeks with 5k-3k paced work mostly on hills, and 4 weeks anaerobic work on grass and track. Maintain your speed with 200's and throw in as many easy runs as you can without affecting your workouts.

Do 3 workouts per week, one "hard" and two moderate. Don't start too hard. You can't handle 2 months with grueling workouts.

Thanks! Yeah I was figuring I would need that kind of work though I wasn't sure how to structure it.

The only problem will be he long hills. I live in Florida and there are a few short steep hills but nothing longer than 100m (of any grade). Should I do these on the treadmill? What grade?

do the test anyway

we don't know if this guy is a 2:10 guy or what

OP tell us more of your history. and what you do now, why types of sprints? how fast?

Flo'da boy wrote:

Thank you! I will try that Friday I think (leg lifting later today)

I will post the inevitably embarrassing results

No, don't listen to wigins!

Do a Cooper test, run as far as you can on a track for 12minutes, report back.

There's nothing inherently wrong with a Kosmin or a Cooper test. But you have to weigh the injury risk against the benefits. Starting a second 60s when you're tired or dying in a Cooper test with 4 minutes left is risky. I prefer to progress gradually. For instance I like to go from 200's to 300's and 400's and even 600's. Then I can control the level of acidosis by extension, not by timing which is much harder when you're out of shape. But if you feel you can run a hard test with good form, do it!

If you don't have hills, I would simply build up a tad slower. I don't like the treadmill for fast running. But YMMV.

You have to see the timeline. In one month from now you should have some decent VO2max workouts under your belt, but at the same time you should be ready for the hard work that will follow. Your speed should be at least as good as it is now. And you should have NO INJURIES.

Of course it's not necessary to have distinct phases like I suggest, but it's a simple way to figure out what you should emphasize at any moment.

Thanks all!

I may try a Kosmin test and I think I will do the Cooper test as a transition into two mile intense tempos (hopefully working down to 2k faster).

I want to do some kind of progression but I am not sure I deal well with short to long.

What type of staple workouts should I be including.

And I have a bare minimum of talent. My best 800m came in a pre race tune up workout for Cross Country my junior year in HS like 5 years ago. I did 2:21 (I think I ran that 5k in 18:30 something which was about a minute best at the time)

Flo'da boy wrote:

Thanks all!

And I have a bare minimum of talent. My best 800m came in a pre race tune up workout for Cross Country my junior year in HS like 5 years ago. I did 2:21

I would say anything would help as long as you don't get injured.

Try this even though it's 400 training:

Do some pool work too.

That 400m training is interesting. More volume than I've ever seen for a sprint program. Good stuff!

First day is in the books. Equal parts grim and bleak.

In the morning I did 2x1mile hard averaging slower than my PR 15k pace (sigh)

Afternoon I jogged 3 miles on the treadmill and did some random exercises (core)

Evening I did squats and bench

(I don't plan to be working out like this usually, today was weird).

I hope to incorporate all of this advice into...something hopefully

Question: What do y'all think about using hard/float sessions (like 800m repeats sprint 50m, then float 50m for the duration).

Flo'da boy wrote:

What type of staple workouts should I be including.

300's and 600's. Race pace. Use the Kosmin to estimate that.

Instead of trying to sort through everyone arguing with me, read the 800 meter section of this.

Joe Vigil is Brenda Martinez's coach and has coached many other elites in the past.

Your staple workouts should be 5k-3k sessions in the first month. Typically 6x800, 8x600, and 5x1000. After that, 300's and 600's are great.

Run/float sessions are good too. The exact layouts of single sessions aren't that important. The crucial thing is whether you can control the session, that is to know how much you can push without needing an extra easy day or getting injured.

Do the workouts you're familiar with. Emphasize longer VO2max workouts the first month, and change the focus anaerobic work the second month.

Bad Wigins wrote:

300's and 600's. Race pace. Use the Kosmin to estimate that.

Instead of trying to sort through everyone arguing with me, read the 800 meter section of this.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s43/sh/20df57d2-d2fd-4845-990d-840014ec9096/c168f3d97113f7ad00da98537f5e50ff

Joe Vigil is Brenda Martinez's coach and has coached many other elites in the past.

600s at race pace!?

Yeah I was wondering about that. What distance's race pace? 1500m?

I'm feeling kinda beat up today from sprints two days ago mixed with weights and tempo yesterday so I may just do an endurance run today (like 40-50 minutes). Maybe I'll make it a bit of a fartlek if I feel better

2-3x600 at race pace is good as a last hard workout before a race. At least if your stamina is good enough. I don't know how it would be for a "couch-to-800-in-2-months"-runner though.

Floda'boy: if you're tired don't push it! You're just building up to heavy workouts now.

Where in Florida do you reside?

Gainesville

Did a workout on the wonky indoor track tonight

I did reps of about 170m (the circumference of the track...not sure the exact distance)

30s walk/stand rest between repeats, 2min between sets.

5xLap

4xLap

3xLap

2xLap

1xLap

then jogged two miles on the treadmill and did plank

Hopefully will do a long run this weekend

Did the same workout as listed above again today. Jogged two miles on the treadmill afterward again too.

Weekend was a bust. Did a short jog and lifted some (squats, deadlifts, and bench)