Hello,
I am attempting to break 1:57 in the 800m to walk on the D1 track team this September, which is in approximately 4 1/2 months.
I am 6'2'' 190lbs with very low body fat and I've never ran track and field before. I have been communicating with the coaches every few months or so.
I have been running for approximately 6 months now. I run 40-45 mpw at 7:30 pace easy miles working my way down to 6:45-7:00 (6 miles a day with 8 mile long run). I am naturally gifted athletically but I know that it takes serious work to walk on track and my kind of athleticism is more geared towards sports like basketball or soccer.
I've been training with one of the guys on the team to get faster and I can keep up with him for usually 1/2 - 2/3 of the interval workouts before falling behind a little bit.
I have been doing two hard workouts per week. one 12x400m with approximately :45 rest (recently have been doing do 6x800m or longer intervals with 2:00 rest) always at 5:00 pace. The other workout is 8x200 with 2:00 rest with the first half of workout being :27-:29s but then rest at :30-:31. Every week I've been seeing great improvements. I finish off the workout with 4x100 at :13-:14s. As far as lifting, I am already naturally very strong and I am afraid to lift too much because I don't want to get to much muscle. I was thinking 3x6 power cleans twice a week with maybe 3x6 explosive squat after and some push ups, sit ups, pull ups would be more than enough?
My goal is to break 1:57 800m. However, for some reason I feel like I could sprint much faster in 400m or 200m. Any helpful advice?