Winter Training For HS Runners

Here are some typical workouts that are appropriate for high school distance runners at this time of year:

45-60min easy

45-60min easy with 4-6x100m strides after

45-60min easy with 30min moderate in the middle

45-60min easy with 20min fast at the end

70-90min easy

Any questions?

Not nearly enough mileage and way too much interval work for winter base building. I would bump the mileage to 70-75mpw, long hill reps (200-300m)x1/wk, quality long run (12-14) once every 10 days, regular tempos, and one of the strength workouts above x 1/wk. You're gonna go nowhere fast with the above approach.

What event are you training for?

I would say ignore the guy who solely advocates easy running and strides. I like the idea of some workouts in the Winter, though maybe what you've listed is a bit much. I would say the shortest quality interval set included regularly would be 800m repeats. Maybe you sprinkle in some faster stuff to see what kind of shape you're in; but it's a little excessive to do that much hard running for Indoor. Most weeks should probably just be two hard workouts-- fartleks and/or tempos.

Karma Police wrote:

What event are you training for?

600/800

For a 600-800 guy, the training looks the part. 70-75 mpw is not necessary for that event at your age. Your workouts seem a little timid, but you are moving in the right direction. Look for something more like 10-12x300@ current 3k fitness with 60 seconds recovery (this is your Vo2 day), you can start some lactate tolerance work like mile race pace, but 250 meters may not be enough to elicit a response with 2 minutes recovery. If you are doing 200s or 250s, you may want to bump that down to current 800 fitness. You probably don't need to do lactate threshold work unless you want to mix things up, so you can drop anything with paces slower than 3k.

vpathletics.com wrote:

For a 600-800 guy, the training looks the part. 70-75 mpw is not necessary for that event at your age. Your workouts seem a little timid, but you are moving in the right direction. Look for something more like 10-12x300@ current 3k fitness with 60 seconds recovery (this is your Vo2 day), you can start some lactate tolerance work like mile race pace, but 250 meters may not be enough to elicit a response with 2 minutes recovery. If you are doing 200s or 250s, you may want to bump that down to current 800 fitness. You probably don't need to do lactate threshold work unless you want to mix things up, so you can drop anything with paces slower than 3k.

I'm training a small group of high school runners, mostly juniors and seniors with 3+ years experience.

Our team goal for the boys and girls is to compete for a conference 4x800 title. We talked about not doing too much speed stuff and to just develop strength and learning pace. Most of these runners are 1600m runners by heart.

Anyways, I appreciate your input. I did have a typo about the 250s. They are indeed at 800m pace, not mile pace. These are down once a week after a 4-5mile.

We try to make each day total up to 6-7 miles, so for an interval workout, that may mean to include a 2-3+mile warm up and 1-2mile cool down.

I'll make sure to update any current race results for fun.

vpathletics.com wrote:

For a 600-800 guy, the training looks the part. 70-75 mpw is not necessary for that event at your age. Your workouts seem a little timid, but you are moving in the right direction. Look for something more like 10-12x300@ current 3k fitness with 60 seconds recovery (this is your Vo2 day), you can start some lactate tolerance work like mile race pace, but 250 meters may not be enough to elicit a response with 2 minutes recovery. If you are doing 200s or 250s, you may want to bump that down to current 800 fitness. You probably don't need to do lactate threshold work unless you want to mix things up, so you can drop anything with paces slower than 3k.

This is the kind of crap that led to the doldrum days of high school running in the 90s. VO2/neuromuscular physiology crap, not even a modicum of high end aerobic work.

You hit the nail right on the head. Coaches will pound their runners relentlessly with short fast intervals and the runners buy into this mentality because they think you have to kill yourself to get faster.

for what it's worth wrote:

You hit the nail right on the head. Coaches will pound their runners relentlessly with short fast intervals and the runners buy into this mentality because they think you have to kill yourself to get faster.

Have you ever tried 8-10x300@ 3k pace with min rest?

There's nothing crazy fast about this workout. The first 4-5 are extremely in control, while the last 4-5 are a slight challenge. If done correctly, you're wanting to do more.

fln>nxn wrote:

for what it's worth wrote:

You hit the nail right on the head. Coaches will pound their runners relentlessly with short fast intervals and the runners buy into this mentality because they think you have to kill yourself to get faster.

Have you ever tried 8-10x300@ 3k pace with min rest?

There's nothing crazy fast about this workout. The first 4-5 are extremely in control, while the last 4-5 are a slight challenge. If done correctly, you're wanting to do more.

If you're a distance runner, your mileage is WAY short. If you're a mid-d runner, then your program might be ok.

fln>nxn, I was only making a generalized statement of agreement with other poster, to clarify. You want to challenge 4x800 and your athletes like the goal, go for it.

We do not run winter track. So I do not understand how you fashion workouts that get you ready to run faster for winter meets and then transition into spring track. If your training works with your long term goals, then that's good. I prefer to keep deep base training as long as possible in the belief athletes will run fastest at district ect.. and not middle of season. Sorry, I wasn't meaning to lump you in with "pound em mentality". Good luck on your goal.

In fairness, your OP you stated your goals and then you changed or gave more specific goals in subsequent post. Unless I missed something.