Embracing short running sessions.

If you run the "effort" pretty much flat out you will retain a great deal of current fitness. Assuming you have very good aerobic fitness from decades of distance work, this more intense training could well result in improved performances over 800/1500.

The session you described doesn't look too different to sessions done by lots of top runners in the pre-war era- the period before high mileage and scientific interval work.

What you propose is simply too little to maintain any reasonable form of fitness. Your aerobic capacity is rapidly crashing while your anaerobic capacity is deflating more gradually, but steadily. Yes, you will get "fat", at least compared to where yiu were.

Are you having ortho issues, perhaps knees? Have you tried minimalism, or some other changes to reinvigorate your running self?

Unfortunately, given the running yiu describe, you don't even qualify for hobby jogger status.

For 400m you'll be fine. The difference between what you are doing and what Michael Johnson did is probably only worth a couple of seconds anyway.

MJ's warmup was more voluminous than this troll's entire 'workout'.

Do what you enjoy doing. If you're not looking to compete at a serious level and running is meant to be as a hobby, I don't see the point of forcing yourself to do long runs all of the time if you don't enjoy it.

At least you still love it, you're still able to do it and you're getting something out of it.

If you're throwing 30 minute runs in there I'm sure you'll maintain some level of fitness.

What about track sessions that are more than strides + 1 rep or are you not interested in that?

I used to find track sessions way more enjoyable than long runs, even if they were brutal. There's just something about the track for me.

At your age, it's a given that you're not breaking 3:00 for 800m now, so why are you worried about not doing it in a few months?

I think this type of workout on your age will inflict erectile problems.

In other words your will get injured.

Better would be to do one 3.4k run with strides at the end and some days some 400s

It is familiar in that I am injured enough so that I can't do any more than what you wrote.

Like I ask my middle school kids when they want to drop something, what are you going to do with the time you used to spend doing the dropped activity?

Are you going to be able to find mile or 800m races because this doesn't sound like it is going to support 5k racing?

What would you think about running your 4k workout twice (morning and evening) one day and taking the next day off? I think that will keep you in better shape.

Given how little you have told us you train currently, less than 2X what you are proposing, I think you will control your diet enough so that you don't get fat.

Uh, no wrote:

MJ's warmup was more voluminous than this troll's entire 'workout'.

True but the warm-up is not training.

Neither is this clown's 1600m jogs.

I don't know but I embrace the idea of short running shorts...

Treds wrote:

Neither is this clown's 1600m jogs.

But it warms him up for his strides and 100-800m effort which is adequate training to run well.

It's worked for racehorses for the last 100 years.

Tune up what nature gave you.

What is with the bashing on here? Running is a HOBBY FOR ALL OF YOU. If the guy wants to do shorter workouts, he can do shorter workouts. Maybe he'll excel at shorter distances on this type of training, maybe not. He asked a simple question, that deserved a simple answer.

OP- You can stay in decent shape relative to most people. I would change it up a bit though instead of the hard 100-800 efforts every day. Maybe some days you stick to strides or cross fields or hills. A little variety never hurt anyone. Maybe after a while of this you'll feel like running more again.

Do what you love. If it's short distances, then do that. You may have to watch your diet a bit more because you aren't burning as many calories, but you'll still stay fit. You might even improve in the 400m and 800m.

I talked with one of the top M50-54 400m guys in the world race this past Saturday about his training. He runs maybe 15 miles a week, so mileage isn't important in the 400m. His typical hard workout including a warm up is only a mile or so.

You'll need to do some 400m-specific workouts to be semi-competitive, but you can do that with no more mileage than you are currently running.

Assuming you can run sub 3 in the 800m now, you should be able to do so in the future, assuming your "effort" on the hard part of your work out is adequate.

Appreciate the serious responses. Thanks.

fisky wrote:

Do what you love. If it's short distances, then do that. You may have to watch your diet a bit more because you aren't burning as many calories, but you'll still stay fit. You might even improve in the 400m and 800m.

I talked with one of the top M50-54 400m guys in the world race this past Saturday about his training. He runs maybe 15 miles a week, so mileage isn't important in the 400m. His typical hard workout including a warm up is only a mile or so.

You'll need to do some 400m-specific workouts to be semi-competitive, but you can do that with no more mileage than you are currently running.

Assuming you can run sub 3 in the 800m now, you should be able to do so in the future, assuming your "effort" on the hard part of your work out is adequate.

I might be able to run 2:30ish now, on the cusp of embarking on this different "training". I recently slogged a 69 400m. Some of these efforts over 100m-800m will be quite hard, some will be merely "medium" effort, depending upon how I feel.

My February goal is sub 69 400m, then sub 68 in March, sub 67 in April, etc etc.....can I run 63 in the summer, even on this very modest running program?

We'll see. But the same old kilometerage for the same old race distances is starting to become a chore for me. I just want to do something different now, but not a new sport like triathlon, haha. And certainly not adventure races or ultras. Why not go to short distances as we get older? Will these 4km sessions leave me completely incapable of doing an old guy track race over 400m/800m? I'm very willing to try it.

kjsd374 wrote:

It is familiar in that I am injured enough so that I can't do any more than what you wrote.

Like I ask my middle school kids when they want to drop something, what are you going to do with the time you used to spend doing the dropped activity?

Are you going to be able to find mile or 800m races because this doesn't sound like it is going to support 5k racing?

What would you think about running your 4k workout twice (morning and evening) one day and taking the next day off? I think that will keep you in better shape.

Given how little you have told us you train currently, less than 2X what you are proposing, I think you will control your diet enough so that you don't get fat.

A 6yr old will fill my time!! :) More hiking, more reading.

There are some allcomers old guy 800m races available to me. I certainly don't care to race 5k, or even 1500m off this.

Gary Oldman wrote:

Uh, no wrote:

MJ's warmup was more voluminous than this troll's entire 'workout'.

True but the warm-up is not training.

The warm up for 400 meter training is training for the aerobic side of the event.

Op will be fine. Many runners here neglect to account for diminishing returns. He's not going to run within a few seconds of MJ though (sub 48). If you really want to maintain your 400m do some hill sprints a few days a week after that. Two short sprint days (5-15 seconds sprinting), one long sprint (25-45 seconds) day.

Gary Oldman wrote:

Treds wrote:

Neither is this clown's 1600m jogs.

But it warms him up for his strides and 100-800m effort which is adequate training to run well.

It's worked for racehorses for the last 100 years.

Tune up what nature gave you.

I believe the OP qualifies for only the hindquarters of a horse.

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

Gary Oldman wrote:

But it warms him up for his strides and 100-800m effort which is adequate training to run well.

It's worked for racehorses for the last 100 years.

Tune up what nature gave you.

I believe the OP qualifies for only the hindquarters of a horse.

Correct. He wants to be a quarter horse.