Former Sub 14:00 wrote:
Staffflag wrote:
I'm surprised that they basically do barely any work at faster than mile pace. I know under the Daniels system he says there is no benefit to running faster than that, but most other successful coaches at least have some work, towards the end of the season that goes down to 800 pace or so...
Thoughts?
They actually do faster than mile pace almost all year. Those hills sprints/tread mill sprints are there for a reason. Canova utilizes them a ton (Magness writes about it a lot too) and they are called alactic work. Essentially close to max effort but you get a LOT of rest. Basically don’t go again till you are ready. If you do it this way you won’t really get sore but you will accomplish the task of recruiting a lot of fast twitch muscle fibers without much risk. They are on an incline to promote good form and allow for a lesser time required to get that effect (the hills do the work for you). Most distance runners have terrible sprint mechanics and it is very dangerous to do it on the track or flat surface.
Basically they are like this:
-ton of stamina work year round
-ton of light 1500m/hill sprints year round
-sparingly do enough race effort work
They get them strong, get them fast, and then try to coordinate it all together with race pace when the time is appropriate. Most coaches should take note of how their program is largely additive. They don’t really get rid of training stimulus they have already built upon. A lot of coaches follow a linear model of periodization and they clearly don’t.
Lots and lots work on both ends of the spectrum. Touch upon race specific stuff briefly to prepare for a goal a competition. Take a break. Repeat.