Does one speed day/one long day per week work?

The objective of training these days is still to race well despite arguments to the contrary. This training doesn't work for you.

So you are saying you have one short interval day and one long interval (or tempo) type day each week?

If so, this is similar to what the NOP guys tend to do in their schedule.

ya i guess, short intervals one day but not like tempos, just like hard 1k intervals. is that the same thing?

LM wrote:

So you are saying you have one short interval day and one long interval (or tempo) type day each week?

If so, this is similar to what the NOP guys tend to do in their schedule.

They also do actual tempo, sprints and eat at Subway even though Galen has bad skin as a result.

They do an occasional tempo but their long intervals when they're in hard training are at about 5k pace or faster. Like one time Rupp and Farah did a workout of 6 x 1600 with 400m jogs for recovery and hit the first 4 in 409-413 then the last 2 in 405 and 403. Then they spiked up and did 2 x 400 all out in 53 and 50 with a 400m jog between the 53 and the 50. I think that was before USAs last summer, but not sure.

I don't know about one long run, but most runners would be shocked how much you can progress doing nothing more than one hard interval workout weekly.

What's not being faced up to here is that this is high school and you have a competition schedule that is not exactly optimal for training/peaking that the coach doesn't exactly have control over.

It is not whether to do 1 or 2 workouts plus a long run. It IS whether to do 1 or 2 workouts PLUS a dual meet on wed or thurs PLUS an invitational on sat PLUS a long run. Just about every one of us who has ever coached in hs has faced this. If you try to do 2 workouts plus 2 races plus a long run every week, you might not have a team out of the hospital by championship season. So you TRY to do:

1 speed session, usually on tuesday

1 race on thursday used as a long interval or tempo session (they call it 1600 and 3200 on the schedule, but coaches know it's REALLY a long interval day)

Then you race on Saturday and long on Sunday (if they're up to that).

This is not how to train optimally for fast times, but it is what most coaches are stuck with.

In hs, any training that doesn't injure you will work. Much worse than doing sub-optimal training is doing that plus half baked stuff you get from message boards, which will probably leave you overtrained with that racing schedule. Finally, be sure to do the opposite of what SMJO suggests no matter what.

we are lucky we don't have a lot of dual meets on tuesdays, so it sort of looks like this:

monday- speed intervals (8x400)

tuesday easy

wed. long intervals- 6x8, 2x4

thurs easy

fri premeet

saturday race

sunday long recovery/off

i am just discouraged because i haven't run well yet. does this sort of thing work for people?

Yeah, the training should work. Your indoor season has been going for what 1 or 2 weeks? Give it time.

received pronunciation wrote:

Finally, be sure to do the opposite of what SMJO suggests no matter what.

You don't want them to train in a way that benefits them?

what's a better way then?

Something that includes tempo. Tempo work is the glue that ties any shorter reps together.

I don't use the term tempo, but I agree that one needs an integrating workout, such as some time spent at date-pace 5K speed. I also think that the intervals should be done very early in the season, using fall for some neuromuscular work to keep the legs snappy, the date-pace workout and racing. I'd use Sunday for an hour-long casual run to maintain the summer base. I view the sharpening/racing fall semester as a slide into deconditioning, with the peak lasting only a few key races. This requires a team that will really run steady summer miles. Summer is golden because it avoids the stress of school, prom etc.