Can You Train Effectively For 800m, 1500m, 3k and 5k At The Same Time?

I ran all the above events in 2018 and scored within 10 points on the IAAF table. TBH, I focused more on the 800 and probably underperformed as a speed person. 7x300 cut downs. Long run around 10 miles. 3-4 mile tempos. Typical 1500-5K intervals. Drills. Around 40 mpw.

I can give a quick summary, but all of my training from that year on is on a thread I started on letsrun, so if you want more details I can link that.

Week ending in 1/30

Sunday: Long run 12.2 miles (7:24) + Strides

Monday: AM 2 mile tempo (5:45) 2 min rest, 1.6 mile tempo (5:30)

PM 6 minutes @ 5:00 pace + 5X300m at 5:00 pace

Tuesday: 5 miles easy (7:30) + hurdles and Strides

Wednesday: 3X600m (1:39-1:40sec), 3X300 (43sec), 3X150 (fast)

2 min rest. 600's and 300's on treadmill

Thursday: 9 miles easy (7:20) last 1.5 miles @ 6:10 pace

Friday: AM 4.3 miles easy (7:30)

PM Warmup for DMR, stride around cheering our DMR team on, cooldown

Saturday: 4X800m Leg #3 split (2:00) Relay in 7:50

4X400m Leg #2 split (50.9) Relay in 3:23.9

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2/1/16: AM tempo 3 miles @ 5:50

PM 10x400m (3min rest)

63,65,64,65,66,66,67,65,65,63

2/6/16: Mile: 4:33 (had to lead a lot, felt like crap)

800: 2:01.7 (went out in 32)

4x4 split: 51.1

2/8/16: 5X600m (3-4min rest)

1:42, 1:40, 1:38, 1:39, 1:40

2/10/16: Long run on the treadmill. 13.1 miles @ 6:50 pace (cut down from 7:30 to 6:15 pace)

2/13/16: Mile 4:32 (went through 800 in 2:10 and lost focus. Frustrating)

3k in 9:40 (ran comfortably)

2/20/16: 400 split: 51.2

Open 500m: 1:06.7 (ECAC and school record)

4x4 split: 51.5

2/22/16: Progression run 8 miles (6:16 pace)

last four miles: 5:44, 5:43, 5:22, 5:12

2/23/16: 3X400m (8min rest, 600m jog + stand around. Coach had us hit 200 in 25 seconds then just "finish under 60")

55, 55, 57. Felt very easy. Last one was rough, but that's expected. Kidna windy up on the track.

2/26/16: 800m race in 1:56.5. 200m flat track. tight turns. indoor PR.

Few taper workouts then 500m race in 1:06.49 to close out indoor season.

Mileage bounced between 40 and 60 throughout but mileage was relatively consistently between 55 and 75 from June through December.

3/8/16: 6x300m with 5min rest. First 5 in 40-41. Last one in spikes in 38.

3/9/16: 24min tempo @ 5:56 pace + strides

3/11/16: Lead leg 4x8 split of 1:56 + 7 mile cool down

3/12/16: 4:08 1500m. Did not run well mentally.

3/14: 12 miles (6:35)

3/15: 6x500m. 3min rest (4-5min rest after third rep).

75, 76, 78, 76, 82, 82

3/17: light tempo (5 miles @5:55) + 4x200m (walk back rest)

26.5, 26.7, 26.2, 25.4

3/19: 12 miles (6:40)

3/21: 6x1k with 90sec rest. Beginning of a cold

3:00, 3:00, 3:10, 3:15, 3:22, 3:10

3/23: 2x(3x200m) + 400m+200m. 90sec between 200's, 4min between sets. After the 400, straight into a 200m jog then one hard 200 to finish.

(27, 28, 27), (28, 27, 27) (54 in trainers!!) (30)

3/26: 5k tempo on hilly road loop in 17:10

3/28: 10X200m Hills. Walk down rest. in 32-35s

3/30: 6X300m into the wind. 3min rest. 500m. Jog 200 right into final hard 200m.

44, 42, 42, 42, 43, 44. 500m in (78). 200m in (27.8)

***Quad Meet at Carnegie Mellon. ***

1500m in 4:12. Went out in 2:16 for 800m

800m in 2:01

4x4 split in 51.7

Very very windy with a wind chill of about 35-40. Felt tired

4/4: 8 mile progression run. Last four miles (6:05, 5:35, 5:13, 5:09)

4/6: All done on treadmill because of storm.

10 min tempo @ 5:30 pace, 2x800m in 2:22, 2X400m in 62, 4X200m in 28

4/8: 2X(800, 400) 3 min between sets and 2min between reps

2:21, 61

2:28, 59

Opted out of the third set. Really tired and beat down feeling

***4/10: Mount union Invitational.***

800m in 1:58.1

4x400m split in 50.78

Snowing at the meet. Wind chill of 20-30 degrees.

Splits for the 800 were 29, 57, 1:26, 1:58

4/12: 4X1500m tempo with 45-60sec rest.

4:58, 4:58, 4:53, 4:52

Then 4X100m with long rest in: 13, 12.5, 12.2, 11.8 (hand times)

4/13: 300, 200, 300, 200, 300, 3X150. 2 min rest between all. Long rest for the 150m's

41, 27, 42, 28, 43. Then 18ish for all the 150's

***4/16: Westminster Invitational ***

800m in 1:55.5

4x400m split in 50.45

Finally warm weather. Borderline hot weather. Had to avoid sunburn.

Splits for the race were 28, 57, 1:26, 1:55.5

All alone (anchor leg) for the 4x4. Was surprised with the split.

4/18: 3X800m with equal rest. Then 4X200m with the sprinters with 3-4min rest

2:22, 2:18, 2:14 (felt really good and smooth)

24, 25, 28, 26 (Exhausted after first rep)

4/20: 12X50m Hill Sprints (all out) with the sprinters. 1:30-2min rest. Then long rest followed by *All out* 400m, 9min rest, 300m, 8min rest, 200m.

400m in 52-53, 300m in 38, 200m in 25.

I was absolutely exhausted after the 300m. Extremely happy with the 400 in trainers after all those hill sprints.

*** 4/23: Home (Penn State Behrend) Invitational ***

800m in 1:56.07

4x4 anchor split in 50.5

Felt tired and mentally not with it during the race.

splits: 27, 55, 1:26, 1:56

4/25: Broken 400's. 3X(250m, 150m)

2 minutes rest between reps, 6-7min between sets

Instructions to get out as hard as possible.

31, 17

30, 18

32, 18

4/27: 3Xmile tempo with 60 sec rest followed by a hard 300m

5:22, 5:19, 5:22

38sec for the 300m

4/29: Since our meet got cancelled we had a hard workout Friday.

2X(400, 400) with 5min between reps and 12 minutes between sets

55, 54, 53, 54.

Felt good and strong until the end of the last rep.

5/1: Longish run. 11 miles @ 6:50

5/2/16: solo 800m @ goal mile pace (2:03, 62/61 splits), then 5x150m in 17-18 in spikes.

From here on out I was lazy with logging and didn't log workouts, just my races, but all workouts from here on we're basic maintenance and/or sharpening workouts, such as 10min tempos @ 5:20 pace or a few 200ms in 25, + some easy 800m pace stuff.

5/8/16: Conference 800m in 1:57. Struggled during the 3rd 200m. took 3rd place.

Tactical 1500m. took 4th in 4:24 after jogging two 75 second laps lol.

sit and kicked inthe 4x4. We won but I only ran a 52.

5/13/16: 800m race in 1:54.38. Felt really good and had more in the tank. 1.3 second PR at the time. Split 49.9 in the 4x4 an hour later.

5/19/16: 800m race in 1:52.72. 1.5 second PR at the time and still my current PR (I'm trying to change that lol).

That concluded my outdoor season that year.

Mileage ranged from like 30 or maybe even 25 during the last week or two, up to low 60s early on in outdoor season. Was mostly around low 40s though.

The key for me was taking most of my easy days really easy. Most runs were between 7:15 and 7:50 pace, with some occasionally faster. I was also lifting 1-2 times a week. I will link the thread and my old running log (I use a different log and thread now) if you want some further details about the structure of the actual weeks.

This is really useful - thanks for sharing.

I eventually decided to get myself a coach and to concentrate on the 1500m this season (coronavirus permitting). I've got a couple of good weeks of training in since, and will update with race results once meets get put back on.

Please start a separate thread. The title of this thread is misleading. The title doesn’t tell us that it’s some random scrub’s training log.

I think you can, but not in the way you expect. When I was in shape for my mile PR in high school, I'd have run 800 faster than the previous year and 3k/5k faster as well.

Using sub-elite and elite HS times as an example, if you ran 2:00 / 4:30 / 9:40 / 16:00 the year before, and ran 1:55 / ? / ? / 15:00 the next year, you'd likely be in shape for 4:10 and 9:00. However, you won't reach your full potential in the 800, but will still put down a good time

I believe Dave Moorcroft ran a PR 1:46.xx a week or two after his world-record 5000m.

Guys like Said Aouita, Steve Ovett (remarkably good winner x-country runner, even up to nine miles when he was an 800m/1500m specialist in summer) and Alan Webb. but not within a matter of weeks. Probably those likely to have that kind of range are generally endurance type 1500m runners.

Jakob Ingerbrigsten is a little short on 800m pace, but would be very effective from 1500m to 10000m at any given time.

Going back a long way, Sidney Wooderson set a World Record for 800m, and later won and English X-Country Championship at 10 miles.

Train for the 15. If you run xc, you'll have enough endurance to get through the 5k. If you need to score in 4 events though, IDK.

The best milers in college and in the world are usually in pretty good 800m shape and 3,000m shape at the same time that they’re in Peale mile shape. To be a good miler, you have to be fast and strong. More aerobically inclined milers would also be in great 5,000m shape. Jakob is a good example. Second in worlds on the 15, doubled back to win the 5 then dominated the 15 in the post season. Somebody like Wightman is a different example entirely. Since he is less of an aerobic athlete, he would probably struggle over 3k/5k late in the season and struggle at 800m during the winter. So it depends on the training and your physiology but it can certainly be done.

I'm not sure if someones said this yet but for me it depends. I think its a talent thing, and not just the way we think of talent which is that its a sliding scale. For me personally, I am a pretty good highschooler, but I suck ass until we hit the track and start doing specific work. It's not that I'm weak aerobically, and that I'm playing to my strengths but actually the opposite. In track season, I start out in great 5k shape, and in cross I'm in like 8k/10k shape. I kick ass in tempo runs and cruise intervals, but I don't really blow anyone away in races. Once I start to really stimulate race conditions doing more lactic work, my times drop like crazy. I could be a good 8 guy if i trained for it, or a good 8k guy, but def not both at the same time. Some however could. Gebresalassie ran 3:31 indoors and set world records in the marathon. Among with just being tremendously talented he was always ready to race any distance.

In terms of training for it, I think your best bet is doing a lot of aerobic work, and a lot of drills and strides to make sure the leg speed is there. When I say aerobic work though, you shouldn't just slog away the miles like a 10k guy, but should be doing a lot of v02max work, and stuff a little slower like some 5k/cv paced repeats. Some work at mile pace like 300m-600m repeats should be used a little bit aswell. Just hope this aerobic work keeps you in shape for 3k/5k, while being more specific than just doing tempos, which IMO aren't too important for the 1500m when you are in season. Its always great off season just not very specific.

Yep Said Aouita used Horwill's system and was great at all these distances SIMUTANEOUSLY,

I’d say yes! When everything lined up for me fitness wise a year ago, I was able to run a 70 mile week that would look something like this

Monday: mileage + strides/drills

Tuesday: 3-4 mile tempo or 6-8 mile steady state + lifting

Wednesday: mileage + strides/drills

Thursday: 2x800m in 2:20-2:25, 6-8x200m in 26-27 + lifting

Friday: Very easy mileage

Saturday: 16x400m averaging about 70 with 400m jog rest + lifting/plyo

Sunday: Easy shakeout jog and strides/drills

Doing this consistently had me in roughly 1:50, 3:5x (1500m) and 14:40 shape. Not exactly elite, but until that time I was never even remotely good at anything over 800m. At that point I was in PR 100m and 10,000m shape.

If you are training for anything over 200m and under a half marathon, it is ESSENTIAL to find the right volume/speed/lifting/overall effort balance. You need aerobic strength in the 400m, and you need raw speed in the 5k. If you can find the right balance, I believe you can train all of the systems pretty efficiently.

Interesting thread. ThatAverageRunner, your post stands out with all that training and race info. You are pretty fast over 400. Your talents suggest you should be an 800-1500 guy.

On the whole, racing & training for 800 - 5000 is a bit the fool's mission. 800 training is different in the extreme from 5000m training. There are very few who could do it. Peter Snell, Ben Jipcho and Steve Ovett come to mind.

Bottom line, if you aspire to be a great 800 racer, you simply need natural speed. You gotta be fast. If you are aiming for the top, you should be able to run well under 50 seconds for the 400.

On the other hand, if you are in college and you don't mind doubling, it could be handy for the team, and worth the effort, but watch out for overtraining injury.

Running well at that range, does require talent. Not every runner can pull it off, But some certainly can. Let us remember Said Aouita who is the only man in history to run the 800 m under 1:44, the 1500 m under 3:30, the 3000 m under 7:30 and the 5000 m under 13:00. He did get Olympic medals in the 800m and 5000m. And one year he even had one of the fastest times in the world in the 10,000m.

ask sifan hassan

If you're the right type of runner with the right ratio of muscle fiber types. It's less about the training and more about physiology of the runner. I can tell you, based on my observations, the jack of all trades type of distance runner is typically going to run the mile as their best event. Think Allen Webb, Said Auoita, (on a slightly lower tier) Centrowitz, Hocker, Ovett.

Like I said, having this type of range isn't something you can specifically train for, however if you train specifically for the mile AND have the requisite physiology that gives you the right balance of speed and endurance, then you perform similarly in all these events.