200/400 Runner To 800

Long runs are key. Have him run for 30-50 minutes at a slow pace. Other options are fartleks and 1000 meter repeats.

Read this, very helpful for yyour situation.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=3407781&thread=3407267#3407781

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=45FFA13E7B4F3537!710&authkey=!AN5ZHfl2UiwuKTI&ithint=file%2c.pdf

20x100m? As an assessment of what? That sounds like a really boring and horrible workout.

bigj_indahouse wrote:

Long runs are key. Have him run for 30-50 minutes at a slow pace. Other options are fartleks and 1000 meter repeats.

I completely and wholeheartedly disagree with this.

Start him at 20 mins, 10 mins easy (8' pace) and 2nd 10 mins at 6:30-7 pace. Add 5 mins a week till he gets to 40. When he's at 40 mins, make it 15 mins slower and 25 mins faster.

Sprinter types often don't thrive on long runs at all though. As a substitute, or as well at certain times, have him do cruise intervals. By this I mean run 4 (building to 6/7) x 1km in about 4 mins, 90 secs rest. This is a great substitute for a long run, especially for sprinter type 800 runners. Gradually add reps and decrease the rest till you get to 6/7 of them at 4 min pace or a bit faster on 1 min's rest.

What this means is he's always running at a good clip. I am yet to be convinced that long, slow jogging has a benefit for 800 runners, especially young ones, and especially sprinter types. Each of these cruise intervals is 4 mins, so he's building up enough endurance to run for 2 faster.

Once he's got those two sessions sorted, you can add in mile/vVo2max training, intervals of 300m-1km at theoretical 2km speed where you rest what you run. For example, on a track, run 300m in 60 seconds, jog/walk the straight in 60 seconds, then do it again. Start at 8 reps and add one or two each time. Then do 400s with a 200 float. It's a bit like fartlek, but structured and with slower recoveries.

The most important thing is to learn to sprint using type 1 muscle. This is best achieved by long interval repeats with just enough recovery to hit the pace targets.

Long runs do little or nothing for it. They merely train someone to use type 1 to jog, and type 2 to sprint. So they end up jogging the second lap when they race.

Hey Wigo, can you give me an example of "long interval repeats with just enough recovery to hit the pace targets"?

For a low-2min 800 runner (this person), what distance, what speed, and what recovery?

As a former 800 meter runner, I always liked the 600-400-200 meter drills with 100 meter active recovery between each element followed by full lap active recovery before the next set. Usually did 4 sets of these with appropriate warm up and cool down. Early in the season, they are effort drills with the 600 at cruise pace, 400 at more aggressive effort and the 200 is all out. As the athlete’s fitness improves you can switch to timed intervals tailored to a goal pace. I like this drill because it allows the athlete to mentally prepare for a kickers finishing speed and long enough to build strength and stamina. I still do these as a masters athlete.