Elite HS 800m Training Plan

1:47.19 tonight. He is not in school but only took up running at the age of 21.

Now for more special workouts to get him to under 146 in the then 4-6 weeks.

It's ok to do two sports in NY. I know in the league I coached in the sports had to be league sports- football was not, it was a section sport.

Soccer and cross were. It was rare for kids to do both. I knew of a few who did swimming and indoor track.

6'3-6'4 somewhere in the upper 170s to low 180s. He's not planning to play soccer after HS. They took another loss to a league rival on Thursday, so I may get him sooner rather than later.

Quad bruise cleared up

Tue: played about half the game

Wed: Soccer practice

Thu: Played full game

Fri: Off

Sat; 5 x 2 min hard 2 min easy embedded in a 5 mile run

In NYC you can only choose 1.

Last week's training.

Sun (he did this after he sent me the previous week training) 1mwu, drills, 3 x 150 @ 18.4, 17.8, 17.6.

Tue: AM 3 miles EZ. PM, Soccer game

Wed: AM 3 miles EZ, PM Soccer practice

Thu: AM 6 miles EZ, PM Soccer game

Fri: 3 Miles EZ

Sat: Soccer Game

wow. that's seriously good top speed so he has great speed reserve.

Will he be running in college?

Yes. Most likely

Monday: No run, no practice, caught ankle in net during win in Saturday's game. Off as precaution

Tuesday: Game (tie)

Wed: AM 4 EZ, PM Soccer Practice

Thu: Game (win, secured a playoff spot)

Fri: AM 4 EZ, PM no practice

Sat: 6 x 2 on 2 off embedded into a 4.7 mile run. Averaged 5:10 for the ON and 6:45 for the whole run. Last couple of ON were below 5 min pace.

Tomorrow: probably 6 EZ

Last Week's training

M: Soccer practice, light

Tue: 1st round playoff game. Lost 2-1

Wed: 3 easy + 3 x 30m fly, average 3.14 (probably a bit tired from game). CD + Weights

Thu: 1 mile WU + Drills + 12x400, Avg 71 with 2 min rec. + 200m @ 23.9. He was a bit sick on this one. I wasn't there and he was supposed to go faster, do fewer reps, but he ended up going with our distance crew instead. He felt pretty proud of the session, though, so that has to count for something.

Fri" 7.5 in 2 runs

Sat: Supposed to be 6 x 3 on 3 off in a 6-7 mile fartlek run, but he was feeling sick so bagged it after 4 sub standard 3 min efforts. He was traveling and doing it on his own. Glad he was smart and bagged it.

Sun: Off

This week, we have our season opener on 2/24. It's a night meet and supposed to be low 40s/high 30s and raining. He wants to open fast, but we'll see.

First full week with the track team

Mon - 2/20. 3 miles WU, Sprint mechanics drills, 10 x stadium ramp, full effort (about 35m) slow walk recovery. 1 mile CD

Tue: WU with the sprint crew (short jog, drills, 3 x 50, moderate). 4 x 5 min Threshod, 1 min Recovery. Change to spikes. 3 x 400, 2 min recovery (68,63,63) + 3 x 200 (25, 27, 25). 1 mile CD + Weights

Wed: AM 3 EZ. PM 4 EZ + Wickets

Thu: WU with sprint crew. 4 EZ + 4 x 200 smooth (32-33)

Fri: Season Opener - 800 @ 1:57.44 + Garbage 1200 on DMR. Don't think he even broke 3:30.

Sat : 5 miles, very hilly (900 feet elevation gain / loss). 45 minutes. He was out of town. This was probably too hard for a recovery day. At least he took it really slow.

Sun: Off

The goal Tuesday was just to give a little sense of running at realistic race paces. So far, he's been doing slow fartlek for aerobic stuff and super fast 10-30m sprints + soccer. So, nothing where he has to sustain a fast pace for more than a few seconds at a time. The 4 x 5 min Threshold intervals were mostly supposed to be a glorified warm up. My boys all ran them together. They were just under 6 min pace for the first 3 then about 5:40 pace for the last one. The 400s were supposed to be at a realistic 1600 goal pace for the season. I told him 64-65. The 200s were supposed to be at a realistic 800 goal pace for the season. I told him 27 mid (since 1:50 is the goal). The 200s were way easier for him than anything else in the session. So, obviously he's pretty far ahead speed wise than anything else right now.

Friday: The goal was to run fast enough in the open 800 to qualify for the fast heat at Stanford at the end of March and not have to run another 800 until then. I'm not sure his time will have done that. The weather conditions were HORRIBLE and he had to solo it. He won by 10 seconds. However, he did split 58-59 and wasn't too blown out at the end.

He was only 10 days removed from his last soccer game, so he really hasn't had a chance to get track legs under him yet.

I was actually really encouraged by his 800 time. Last year he opened with 1:58.6 under really good conditions where he and another local kid went head to head all the way to the finish line (the other kid won by a couple of 10ths). Friday, we had temps in the high 30s/low 40's all night, pouring rain, almost all night, and the wind came up just before his race went off. So, we know he is ready to run MUCH faster already.

The failure to run a time that assures a spot in the Stanford fast heat throws a little monkey wrench into the early season plans. The original plan was to spend most of March and April trying to make him more of a miler, to build strength to be able to run rounds at State/Nationals later on. I think that's still going to be the plan, but I may have to find him a good 800 in a couple of weeks so he can take another shot.

0.98 for 10m but only 3.2+ for 30m fly? I'm sorry to say, but you're one of thousands who have been lied to by FreeLap. He could pull his hamstring after going 0.98 for 10m and still finish the next 20m better than 2.22+.

3.04 for 30m.

it’s in the thread.

averaged 3.14 for 3 of them the day after a soccer game.

1:46.37. 5 weeks before nats here in Australia. Also had 13 year old run 2:01.5 this past weekend. Lucky to work with talented athletes.

Nice training, how old is your athlete?

High School Senior

CoachB just a little insight here. We are only on the track 1x per week. Lactate tolerance sessions have all been on grass hills. A few staple sessions in the last 2 months that has seen him go from 1:50-1:46.Monday 4x flying 30's, Tuesday 400's on 2 min cycle or 1:45 cycle + added 200's of late, Thursday thresholds, Saturday 1k repeats on grass and extra stuff like 30/30 or 300m hill efforts. Good luck for the rest of the season.

Good luck.

Plan looks great. Please do not try to turn him into a distance runner and have him run a bunch of junk miles and long runs to "work on his endurance" and don't be fooled by his xc performances either. He's an 800 specialist.

I think you have the recipe exactly right, though - speed workouts (10-60m sprints or 100-150 striders), speed endurance (400-mile pace workouts), high end aerobic work (long intervals/fartleks) and 30-45 minute distance runs on off days. I always found that alternating between 5 and 6 days of running/week is optimal to not get these types of runners burnt out from the intense work that they do.