Contradiction wrote:
Tell that to the numerous sub 1:50 guys who run somewhere from 60-80MPW in base phase. Perhaps you are right, we have been approaching 800 training wrong for all these years.
While I think it vastly oversimplifies things to simply apply the blanket statement that "traditional" 800m training is just "wrong" it is an unfortunate fact that a lot of distance training in US HS T&F is incredibly dogmatic and resistant to change. Probably more accurately you could say "There is a better than zero chance that while conventional training methods for the 800m yield good results, there are non-conventional methods that might actually be more effective and are largely ignored due to how wildly the fly in the face of the logic behind said conventional training."
The 20-30mpw surprises me less for its efficacy and more for the fact a well-known, "mainstream" program adopted it.
Anecdotally, it doesn't surprise me a whole lot. Coaching sprints/relays at the HS level, the guy who handled the distance runners was pretty open-minded on most things but was a firm, unwavering believer in "mileage for everyone" and his 800/1600 runners would generally reach a peak of ~40-50mpw during the outdoor season, a little more for the 16/32 focused guys. All of the top 5 or 6 guys ran XC as well, where 55-65mpw was the peak for the varsity guys.
I trained my sprinters to be largely 200/400 guys. A natural burner in the 100 was going to receive slightly different training, but for the most part, looking at it from the perspective of team goals in a weak area, i wanted guys that could handle running 3-4 events per meet, not die in a 4x4, and be able to mop up a 300h race if need be, to score points for the conference and state meet. (conference champ in the 1/2/300h/4/8/16/32 each year on average will probably be ~11.3-4/22.9-23.1/41.5-42.5/50-51/1:58-2:00/4:28-4:32/9:45-10:00)
There was still, obviously, zero dedicated aerobic development, and never once in practice did my guys actually run over 400m in any sort of interval or anything.
long story short, mileage guy ended up with 800 runners that had gone, in relays or open, 2:02, 2:04, 2:05, 2:08, 2:09
for me, at one athletes request, i put a 23.8/51.4 guy in the 800 at a regular season meet, and he ran 2:09.33 splitting 28.1 over the last 200.
at the end of the season, 3 other sprinters with PRs of 23.0-24.5/50.5-52.5
ran a time-trial 600m and ran 1:27.1, 1:28.3, 1:30.0. they came through the 400 in 60.6, 61.0, 62.1 and split 26.4, 27.3, 27.9 over the last 200m, respectively. All three of those guys would have comfortably broken 2:10 in an 800.
Not at all the same level of talent, but clearly, if the strengths of the runners matches up with what you're doing, you don't necessarily need to focus on aerobic development very much at all for the 800m.