Workouts for an unstoppable kick in the 3000

Being able to kick hard at the end of a race means you have enough endurance that the first 90% of your race doesn't put you over the redline. I don't care how much foot speed you have. There is no way the fastest guys in the world kick in a :52 last lap because of "speed". It's because they are aerobic monsters and their body lets them use raw speed at that moment. Lots of sub-elite college guys can run :60 seconds for a 400. In fact, for many 2:00, 800 feels like a cruise. How come they can't run 4:00 for the mile? Has nothing to do with speed.

So, for workouts, max out your strength work and a few days a week mix in 8-10 x 100 strides or 6-8 x 150 hard efforts. The day before workouts, do 6-8x 50 meters HARD to wake up your neurotransmitters for the next days hard effort. As the season progresses, work on speed endurance and you should be better.

I always tell my athletes, I'd rather you get outkicked in a 13:50 race then blow someone doors off for the win in a 14:30 race....

kod3200 wrote:

Recently ran the 2 mile and was beaten in the final 100-150 due to a sub-par finish. Very frustrating way to lose, was wondering if anyone has workouts that have helped out with your finishing speed anywhere from 400 out to final sprint.

Plenty of things you can do to develop a kick. But you want an unstoppable kick? Just one simple workout: 2x better parents.

Or try L-Carnetine.

Worked for Rupp and Farah..

Good advice so far. I would add "running on pure hate" to the list. This is especially important at the high school level.

endurokick wrote:

I always tell my athletes, I'd rather you get outkicked in a 13:50 race then blow someone doors off for the win in a 14:30 race....

Not sure what this means.

OP,

Most likely you don't have to train any differently to have a bigger kick. What you need to do is to run better splits.

For a 10:00 2 mile try to run

76, 76, 76, 76, 76, 76, 76, 68

not

72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 75

For my high school athletes i try to attack this in many different directions. After two easy runs a week we do 4-8x80m sprints and a third easy day we do a combo of plyos/sprints. We always do one threshold workout a week which finishes with 200s or 150s fast. Intervals days are finish with 8x100 or 4-6x150 with each 50m faster or an allout 300 or 400 at the end. Hill sprints are another opinion like 8-10x80m uphill.

Did you by any chance run at UNF?

I found that workouts that made me feel (operative word is 'feel' there) strong in a kick were ones where I was doing a medium to high volume of slightly slower than race pace work on short rest, followed by a small volume of all out speed on medium rest.

For example, during buildup to a 15:40 PR (so roughly 5:00 mile pace) I would do a session like 6x1000m at 3:10-3:15 with 2:00 rest in between, then a 5:00 rest, then 4x200 at 800m race pace (about 30 seconds) with 2:00 standing rest.

I'm certainly no stud, but workouts like this definitely made me feel like I could tap into what little speed I had after a decent volume of race pace running, and try to contend for a win when it was reasonable. Hope this helps!

You clearly didn´t watch the 2007 WC 10000m where Sihine clearly was fitter than Bekele and was almost able to run away from him but was still outsprinted in the end.

Sihine last 400 splits - 26/32

Bekele last 400 splits - 27/27

Morgan Freeman wrote:

Did you by any chance run at UNF?

Unfortunately yes, that was me. Absolutely furious after that run. 200 to go and the gap was growing and I thought the race was over. 100m left my legs were locking up and I was already tired from the week. 12 miles w/ fast finish 5:50-5:30:5:15 for my long run and 2 VERY hard track workouts left me feeling dead but I wanted to get them in before I started the state series. Everything just went wrong that race, legs were beat just going into the race as I hit 60 miles for the week and the intensity was just as bad as the volume. Race got on and everything was smooth but I made my move too early, I thought we were headed into the bell lap but it was 2 laps to go and I didn't have my contacts. Got stuck with the lead with 800 to go so I just ran like hell but he just drafted behind me. Threw down one final surge on the backstretch to break his mental strength cause I was falling apart with 200 to go and knew I wouldn't win on the home stretch. The gap got bigger and bigger which was a relief cause I had absolutely nothing left in my legs. Just as we come around the home stretch crowd starts cheering and next thing I know the kid just lunges at the line. Can't believe I let it happen, ran my entire long run yesterday off of absolute rage. I hope he enjoys the fame cause I'll be waiting for the rematch and next time I won't be caught off-guard like that and I'll make sure my legs feel good.

Seems like Morgan saw the race but thanks for the recap.

Theres a good chance he just saw the last 200m as its all over Instagram

No offense man but it sounds like you like to throw in a lot of excuses when you're recapping things

Would this dream kick not end shortly after the 3,000m mark? Or would it just keep going? At some point it has to stop, right?

Advice from an old 1500m kicker, who still surprises kids half his age once or twice per season:

1. if you're at personal best pace you're not going to do a BIG kick, because you are at your limit. You have to be fit enough to have a little left with 250 to go.

...BUT...

2. If you don't practice changing pace and kicking in training, you sure as hell aren't going to unleash one in a race.

A great session if you have a few friends around is "tactical 300s'. Do maybe half a dozen, with long rests. Before each, draw straws or get a friend/coach to nomimate someone as the kicker. The group starts off at a cruise, and at some point the kicker has to make a move, and the others have to respond quickly and stay in touch. Not knowing who it's going to be makes it really fun. Ease off with 50m to go as you have other reps to come after.

Another one is the Rupp/Farah classic of two sets of 600-500-400-300-200-100 with 100m jog, getting faster.

If you train yourself that you can and will speed up near the end, it's a bit more likely to happen.

It's good to set yourself some preprogrammed milestones. e.g. in a 3000m, you might commit to being within 10m of the lead with 600 to go, and to getting on the leader's shoulder into the back stretch. Once you have decided you are going to do those things, you can switch off and relax for more of the race and conserve energy. People waste tons of energy running wide in 1500s for 3 laps, or constantly moving up and down in 3k/5k.

Finally, the later you kick, the more chance it lasts to the finish. The overwhelming majority of Olympic 800m champions were NOT leading with 100m to go. If you hit the front early (say 250-150 out), it should be a controlled acceleration with the plan of hitting top speed in the home stretch.

Good luck and have fun!

Dude, it sounds like your speed was just fine, you just went too early while trying to break him and expended a disproportionately greater amount of energy. If you had relaxed instead of trying to break him, especially coming off of a tiring week as you said, you could have tapped into more of your speed than him in the finish and out-kicked him. The time would have been slower but you could have won. If you have superior enough strength that you thought you could break him with fully 800 to go in a 3200, there is no reason to think you lack superior enough strength to outsprint him even if his top end is faster.

kod3200 wrote:

Recently ran the 2 mile and was beaten in the final 100-150 due to a sub-par finish. Very frustrating way to lose, was wondering if anyone has workouts that have helped out with your finishing speed anywhere from 400 out to final sprint.