How can you bring a 5:30 mile down to 4:50?
And a 2:17 800 down to a 2:10?
How can you bring a 5:30 mile down to 4:50?
And a 2:17 800 down to a 2:10?
First, I'd build a base with relatively high mileage, and 2 tempos per week. Then after about tree weeks of that, start running interval work, like 400s and 800s. One workout that I really like early season is the floater workout which is alternating sprinting/easy 200s around the track. 200 hard, 200 easy, 200 hard, 200 easy and so on. I don't know wat kind of shape you are in but I usually do 3 to four miles of that.
What is your current training (miles per week, speed work, hills, etc.)?
We do a lot of times runs 50 minutes or 45 which are on a lot of pavement or on the concrete around the school
Run some hard 200s with lots of rest between. Gradually decrease the rest.
you need to do longer repeats 600's/800's@ goal pace for 1600, 4-5 with 3-5 minutes rest inbetween one day a week then do 200's@ just under 1600 goal pace 12-14 of them with 60 seconds rest. Once those workouts are easier either decrease the rest or decrease the time... do NOT change both in the same week. Keep your mileage up through 3-4 weeks out from your goal week. Drop your mileage about 10-20% the last two weeks and decrease the amount of reps your doing in your workouts not quite in half but 75% or so... that should be a good start... keep getting your mileage in that's your backbone! good luck!
GORUN1600 wrote:
you need to do longer repeats 600's/800's@ goal pace for 1600, 4-5 with 3-5 minutes rest inbetween one day a week then do 200's@ just under 1600 goal pace 12-14 of them with 60 seconds rest. Once those workouts are easier either decrease the rest or decrease the time... do NOT change both in the same week. Keep your mileage up through 3-4 weeks out from your goal week. Drop your mileage about 10-20% the last two weeks and decrease the amount of reps your doing in your workouts not quite in half but 75% or so... that should be a good start... keep getting your mileage in that's your backbone! good luck!
Do you realize how difficult 800's at goal mile pace are?
yes I do... that is why there is quite a bit of rest in between each of those repeats
He basically has it right. We do something similar with D1 athletes and we got it from Lagat's training. The Lagat version is 4X800 in about 2:00 + 2X400, all with 2 min rest.
D1 athletes are not Lagat at his peak, so we do 4X800 with 4-5 min rest 1500 pace, and this is during outdoor season. You might even try full recovery if you can't recover off 5 min, maybe something like 2X800 with 15 min. But if you have the speed, longer repeats work. Likewise, we find that 400 800 training 3X400 with 4 min works better than 200s and 300s that many like (because they're easier, but because they're easier they don't work as well).
Yes, but "at his peak" Lagat has run 7:29 for 3k, still a hair faster than 2:00 / 800. Lagat would have to do them at around 1:55/1:56 to be at mile pace during peak form in outdoor now.
for a high school kid i'd start with 600's, once you can handle that go to 800's... for the record if galen can close a 5x1 mile with 4:00 then i'd think that lagat can handle 1:55 for 800 repeats with 3-4 minutes rest.
Wow, you guys are talking about Lagat's training with a kid who is high school, and has run 5:30 for the mile.
alecxc, my advice to you is to think LONG TERM. When I was in middle school, my time for the mile was 6:45. I later qualified for the Olympic Trials with a 2:18 marathon.
Thinking LONG TERM at this point in your life means not worrying about your mile time. Go run by yourself on dirt roads and in the hills. If you feel good, run fast. If you feel bad, slow down to a jog. Ride your bike, go swimming, hike in the mountains, enjoy your life. Get up early (5:00am or so) and jog/run 3-4 miles before school. Enjoy the journey. Your best running is years away.