Who is their 800m coach and what is the training programme? This coach has had success with Mu and Brazier... Have they reinvented the wheel or just applying already proven techniques?
Who is their 800m coach and what is the training programme? This coach has had success with Mu and Brazier... Have they reinvented the wheel or just applying already proven techniques?
Any insights???
It's a different coach now than when Brazier was there. Their strategy is to recruit elite athletes. Brazier and Mu are just insanely gifted, best genetics in the country. Any moron could coach them to fast times.
They take a lower mileage approach and train their 800 runners separately from their long sprint and mid-d runners. This results in athletes built to race 400m-1k (which I personally think should be categorized differently than sprints or mid-d)
From what I understand it’s high twenties to mid thirties per week as far as mileage goes, and they do a lot of slower paced intervals in place of mileage.
I think I’m a sense we are about to see a new wave/style of 800m training. Lots of coaches and athletes alike are starting to realize that there are more 800 efficient ways to get tempo work, Vo2MAX work, strength work, you name it, that’ll (A) be lower volume and (B) be closer in line with the mechanics of an 800m runner.
A good example would be something like replacing a 5:20 pace 4-5 mile tempo with 10-12 400s at 4:40-4:50 pace with HR based rest. If you do it right, you can keep your HR in that same zone as that tempo run for the same duration, but with the added faster running, and less overall mileage.
They have a YouTube channel called 800U where they post a lot of their workouts, I’d check it out.
Who is their 800m coach and what is the training programme? This coach has had success with Mu and Brazier... Have they reinvented the wheel or just applying already proven techniques?
Any insights???
It's a different coach now than when Brazier was there. Their strategy is to recruit elite athletes. Brazier and Mu are just insanely gifted, best genetics in the country. Any moron could coach them to fast times.
Different coach for the 800M runners but same guy writing their training program - Pat Henry.
They take a lower mileage approach and train their 800 runners separately from their long sprint and mid-d runners. This results in athletes built to race 400m-1k (which I personally think should be categorized differently than sprints or mid-d)
From what I understand it’s high twenties to mid thirties per week as far as mileage goes, and they do a lot of slower paced intervals in place of mileage.
I think I’m a sense we are about to see a new wave/style of 800m training. Lots of coaches and athletes alike are starting to realize that there are more 800 efficient ways to get tempo work, Vo2MAX work, strength work, you name it, that’ll (A) be lower volume and (B) be closer in line with the mechanics of an 800m runner.
A good example would be something like replacing a 5:20 pace 4-5 mile tempo with 10-12 400s at 4:40-4:50 pace with HR based rest. If you do it right, you can keep your HR in that same zone as that tempo run for the same duration, but with the added faster running, and less overall mileage.
They have a YouTube channel called 800U where they post a lot of their workouts, I’d check it out.
This new approach may be the key to bringing the women's 800 times down to match the W400/W1500
Just a few years ago 2015/16 we were seeing 1500s closing in 1:57s and now we see the fastest clean women ever 1-8 in the event. Hopefully Mu and others can bring the 800 down to match these low 3:50s 1500s
Devin Dixon is my fav 800m male runner and Athing Mu my fav female runner. The reason is how beasts they are in the 4x400. It's a joy to see them compete.
Who is their 800m coach and what is the training programme? This coach has had success with Mu and Brazier... Have they reinvented the wheel or just applying already proven techniques?
Who is their 800m coach and what is the training programme? This coach has had success with Mu and Brazier... Have they reinvented the wheel or just applying already proven techniques?
They take a lower mileage approach and train their 800 runners separately from their long sprint and mid-d runners. This results in athletes built to race 400m-1k (which I personally think should be categorized differently than sprints or mid-d)
From what I understand it’s high twenties to mid thirties per week as far as mileage goes, and they do a lot of slower paced intervals in place of mileage.
I think I’m a sense we are about to see a new wave/style of 800m training. Lots of coaches and athletes alike are starting to realize that there are more 800 efficient ways to get tempo work, Vo2MAX work, strength work, you name it, that’ll (A) be lower volume and (B) be closer in line with the mechanics of an 800m runner.
A good example would be something like replacing a 5:20 pace 4-5 mile tempo with 10-12 400s at 4:40-4:50 pace with HR based rest. If you do it right, you can keep your HR in that same zone as that tempo run for the same duration, but with the added faster running, and less overall mileage.
They have a YouTube channel called 800U where they post a lot of their workouts, I’d check it out.
Great post.
Much better for speed-based 400-800 or 600-1000 runners to do 5x1000 decently fast (critical velocity or faster), as opposed to slogging 6 miles at their hypothetical HM pace.
And coaches sending runners out for a 6-mile jog on their non-workout days are going to keep getting wiped of the map. For example, it is far better to do a short warmup and then 10 at-pace 100s with jog-back rest, or straights-and-turns for 20 minutes. The old and new ways both give you 40-45 minutes of activity, but one is actually relevant to running the 800.
They take a lower mileage approach and train their 800 runners separately from their long sprint and mid-d runners. This results in athletes built to race 400m-1k (which I personally think should be categorized differently than sprints or mid-d)
From what I understand it’s high twenties to mid thirties per week as far as mileage goes, and they do a lot of slower paced intervals in place of mileage.
I think I’m a sense we are about to see a new wave/style of 800m training. Lots of coaches and athletes alike are starting to realize that there are more 800 efficient ways to get tempo work, Vo2MAX work, strength work, you name it, that’ll (A) be lower volume and (B) be closer in line with the mechanics of an 800m runner.
A good example would be something like replacing a 5:20 pace 4-5 mile tempo with 10-12 400s at 4:40-4:50 pace with HR based rest. If you do it right, you can keep your HR in that same zone as that tempo run for the same duration, but with the added faster running, and less overall mileage.
They have a YouTube channel called 800U where they post a lot of their workouts, I’d check it out.
The coach Milton Mallard is a former 200-400 sprinter. That is interesting for an 800m coach. One thing I have noticed is the athletes are exceptional at controlling races. They are prepared for a very fast race and can set that for themselves, but also when they cede the lead they decisively grab it at 400 to go or whatever it may be. They don't leave anything late.
If we are to take anything from the training of today's top 800m runners (Mu, Hodgkinson, Korir, Brazier, Rogers), it may be that mileage for the sake of mileage for 800m runners seems to have marginal benefit. None of these athletes go over 40mpw, and all of them can run very fast 400s.
Who is their 800m coach and what is the training programme? This coach has had success with Mu and Brazier... Have they reinvented the wheel or just applying already proven techniques?
Any insights???
It's a different coach now than when Brazier was there. Their strategy is to recruit elite athletes. Brazier and Mu are just insanely gifted, best genetics in the country. Any moron could coach them to fast times.
Very, very badly informed post. Do you even bother with facts before posting?
Mu's graduate HS in 2020. Her progression:
2019 - 51.98 / 2:01.17
2020 - no outdoor marks, 53.14 / 2:04.08 indoor
--- Goes to A&M ---
2021 - 49.57 / 1:55.04, 50.52 / 1:58.40 indoor
If you think it's a given that she would have gone from 2:01 to 1:55 in two years, you know nothing about the sport.
Same goes for Brazier's improvement under Mallard at A&M.
It's a different coach now than when Brazier was there. Their strategy is to recruit elite athletes. Brazier and Mu are just insanely gifted, best genetics in the country. Any moron could coach them to fast times.
Very, very badly informed post. Do you even bother with facts before posting?
Same goes for Brazier's improvement under Mallard at A&M.
Coach Mallard wasn't at Texas A&M when Brazier was there. So much for you supposedly bothering with facts.
There is some truth in the previous posts, and also some incorrect information. Here is what they are REALLY doing at Texas A&M. Their "secret" is not just one thing, it's a combination of many things.
A. They recruit elite 800 runners. Donavan Brazier, Athing Mu, Sammy Watson, and Brandon Miller were the best 800 high school runners in the country. Devin Dixon, Jazmine Fray, Bailey Goggins, and Dominique Mustin were top 10 in the country in the 800 in high school. Avi'Tal Wilson-Perteete, who just transferred to Texas A&M in January, was the top college 800 runner in the transfer portal. Any college team who can get superstar talent like the 9 runners I just mentioned, is going to have a lot of success.
B. They recruit only 400/800 runners. In other words, they don't recruit 800/1600 runners like most universities do. This allows Texas A&M to have just one type of training, because all of the 800 runners are built the same way, meaning they are all really fast at the 400. (Miller, Mu, and Fray were all part of national championship winning 4x400 teams. Brazier is on the USA 4x400 at the World Indoor Championships.)
C. They train the 800 runners separately from the rest of the runners at the school. At many other schools the 800 runners train with the distance team. Not at Texas A&M. The 800 runners are their own training group.
D. They focus on quality over quantity. Some schools have their 800 runners running 8-10 miles per day. Donavan Brazier has said a number of times that he has never run an hour straight in his entire life. The weekly mileage for 800 runners at Texas A&M is around 30 miles per week. In fact, one of the reasons that Wilson-Perteete transferred there is because she hates distance training, and at Texas A&M she wouldn't have to run much distance.
E. They have a great training system for 800 runners that they have perfected over the years. Coach Mallard has only been at Texas A&M a few years, but his 800 training system is one that Coach Henry, and the previous 800 coaches, have perfected even before Coach Mallard got there. I don't know if it's Coach Mallard or Coach Henry who decides on each day's workouts, but either way it's using a 800 training system that was in place before Coach Mallard got there.