Training for spring track season like a typical American HSer, I'm in the middle of base right now but have been working my pure sprint speed a lot with strides, hill sprints, weights, etc. For my pure speed workout tomorrow, what would be better to time-trial--400 or 200? Perhaps even 300?
For context, I'm training to peak in May and have two indoor meets in Jan/Feb but we really train through them. Is the 400 too lactic for this point in the season?
You didn't even say what events you're training for, but I'll assume you're training for 200/400. I don't believe there is an exact science to time trialing, but if I'm training for a double, I usually like to do a middle-distance (meaning a distance between my two events), so I would probably go for the 300m, as that will give you the best indication of where you're at with your training and what you need to work on. However, I can't see why (maybe there is a reason, but I'm just ignorant of it) any of the distances you listed would be a bad idea for a time trial.
Uh oh. My bad. I'm a distance man, primarily 1600-3200 in the past but working my speed so much in an attempt to drop down to 800.
Oh...then I'm not sure what the point of doing a time trial that short would even prove. If you want to do a time trial for an 800, I would suggest doing a 600-800m. Anything shorter really won't tell you anything relevant to your aerobic capacities.
OklahomaGuy wrote:
Training for spring track season like a typical American HSer, I'm in the middle of base right now but have been working my pure sprint speed a lot with strides, hill sprints, weights, etc. For my pure speed workout tomorrow, what would be better to time-trial--400 or 200? Perhaps even 300?
For context, I'm training to peak in May and have two indoor meets in Jan/Feb but we really train through them. Is the 400 too lactic for this point in the season?
You didn´t mention what kind of sprint workouts you´ve done, but if you´ve focused on short alactic sprints - maximal speed sprints up to 80m or so, the next step would be to start building the anaerobic glycolytic capacity. It´s not yet time for a 400m TT. But if have to choose, I recommend the 200m. You could use the time of this TT to plan the an.capacity workouts. Aim for something like 2-3x150-2-3x120-2-3x100m at relaxed fast pace close to the 200m TT pace w/ ~5min rec. Once you have built the anaerobic alactic and glycolytic capacities, as well as the aerobic capacity, you are ready to start the anaerobic power workouts, and possibly perform a 400m TT after couple of an. power workouts at or close to maximal lactates, to see is your 400m at the level that your 800m goal pace demands. If you come more from the endurance side, the 400m time should be about 4-6 seconds faster than the 800m goal pace.