Clearly works. I think the point is she does lots of speed work. She’s a 400/800m runner rather than 1500/800. You’ll notice she never runs the 1500m. What she doesn’t do in peak season is lots of long, slow runs. She says she’s quite susceptible to stress reactions .
Isn't this very similar to Coe's training back in the day. Very low mileage around 30 mpw, and all quality. And circuit training as his cross training to develop localized muscular endurance.
But, but, but ... it's IMPOSSIBLE to be a successful runner unless you are running high mileage at altitude!
‘So, it’s cross training on Mondays. On Tuesdays, I’ll do a session on the cross trainer and then I’ll do a track session. Wednesdays involve a 30-minute run and 40 minutes on the cross trainer, plus some gym work. Thursdays are similar to Tuesdays, but with maybe more of a tempo-type session. I always have Fridays off, then Saturdays in the winter will be a longer session and in the summer a track session. Sundays in the winter will be hills, and in the summer I’ll do a 15-minute run.’
"Cross trainer" is an elliptical machine, in case you were wondering.
But, but, but ... it's IMPOSSIBLE to be a successful runner unless you are running high mileage at altitude!
‘So, it’s cross training on Mondays. On Tuesdays, I’ll do a session on the cross trainer and then I’ll do a track session. Wednesdays involve a 30-minute run and 40 minutes on the cross trainer, plus some gym work. Thursdays are similar to Tuesdays, but with maybe more of a tempo-type session. I always have Fridays off, then Saturdays in the winter will be a longer session and in the summer a track session. Sundays in the winter will be hills, and in the summer I’ll do a 15-minute run.’
"Cross trainer" is an elliptical machine, in case you were wondering.
"I’d say I almost train like a sprinter, but I think the 800m is getting towards that now. There’s a whole new science – a whole new perspective – on 800m training that says you actually need the speed, and it’s not about doing miles and miles."
"I’d say I almost train like a sprinter, but I think the 800m is getting towards that now. There’s a whole new science – a whole new perspective – on 800m training that says you actually need the speed, and it’s not about doing miles and miles."
Probably the biggest letsrun psyops was the idea that an 800m runner had to hit 70mpw+ to be good.
Tbh it makes so much sense to do this:
Find the highest mileage that lets you be nearly 100% for your quality and doesn’t take the spring out of your step. Always stay in touch with speed. Your default state should be “I can run fast right now”
Distance guys who happen to have decent speed dropping down to the 800 are not an example to follow for a lot of pure 800 types.
Clearly works. I think the point is she does lots of speed work. She’s a 400/800m runner rather than 1500/800. You’ll notice she never runs the 1500m. What she doesn’t do in peak season is lots of long, slow runs. She says she’s quite susceptible to stress reactions .
I don't believe she is a 4/8 runner. She just runs the 4 for sharpening purposes. As a junior she was selected for England international cross country teams which would be very uncommon for a 4/8 athlete.
If we compare her to Mu their 800 times are similar but Mu is almost two seconds quicker over the 400. I'm sure Keely could run a sub-4 1500m with minimal training adjustment and a few more miles.
35 mpw seems very low to me given her profile but she was had success so what do I know?
Clearly works. I think the point is she does lots of speed work. She’s a 400/800m runner rather than 1500/800. You’ll notice she never runs the 1500m. What she doesn’t do in peak season is lots of long, slow runs. She says she’s quite susceptible to stress reactions .
I don't believe she is a 4/8 runner. She just runs the 4 for sharpening purposes. As a junior she was selected for England international cross country teams which would be very uncommon for a 4/8 athlete.
If we compare her to Mu their 800 times are similar but Mu is almost two seconds quicker over the 400. I'm sure Keely could run a sub-4 1500m with minimal training adjustment and a few more miles.
35 mpw seems very low to me given her profile but she was had success so what do I know?
I agree she just runs 400m for sharpening purposes. However, unlike many other 800m runner she never runs the 1500m for any reason.
I think if she is slightly injury prone then what she’s doing is smart and she knows in the 800m speed is key I don’t think 1500m and longer are her events. Despite her cross country history.
To excel at the 800m you have to have quite a unique mix of fast twitch and slow twitch. I don’t think pounding out loads of 1500m and cross country races would be right for her. I actually think she’s a pure 800m runner who benefits from racing 400s in the season. (But she isn’t hugely competitive at it!)
One of the great 8 specialist I knew ran 24, 25, or 26 miles a week including some cross training. So I was expecting to see something like 20 miles maximum. 35 miles is not low-mileage for her specialty.
"I’d say I almost train like a sprinter, but I think the 800m is getting towards that now. There’s a whole new science – a whole new perspective – on 800m training that says you actually need the speed, and it’s not about doing miles and miles."
Probably the biggest letsrun psyops was the idea that an 800m runner had to hit 70mpw+ to be good.
Tbh it makes so much sense to do this:
Find the highest mileage that lets you be nearly 100% for your quality and doesn’t take the spring out of your step. Always stay in touch with speed. Your default state should be “I can run fast right now”
Distance guys who happen to have decent speed dropping down to the 800 are not an example to follow for a lot of pure 800 types.
There was a study awhile back about the energy production for different track and field events. Shorter events, like the 100/200 were mostly done with either the latent, alactic energy in the body or energy produced anaerobically (with a very small aerobic component). Longer events, like the 5k/10k were mostly aerobic, with a small anaerobic component and a tiny alactic component in the first few seconds.
If I remember correctly, one of the more intriguing findings was that the 800 not only had the most even mean energy production (almost a 50/50 of aerobic/anaerobic), it also had very high variance, and tended to be more anaerobic the faster you ran. This makes logical sense, because it's actually about time under stress, not distance. 1:40 all out is much more anaerobic than 2:30, even if both are 800 race times. Thus, faster runners will tend to use their anaerobic system more than slower runners.
The variance, I believe, really comes down to genetic makeup and your natural predisposition to growing Type IIa or Type IIx muscle fibers. Because the 800 has such a close proportion of aerobic and anaerobic energy production, you can train for it based on your natural fiber growth capabilities, and there is no way to have a set "standard" training method. Whichever fibers you train more will then grow disproportionately, so the distribution ends up including a lot more 70/30s and 30/70s than true 50/50s.
The fastest runners do tend towards a bit more Type IIx in my experience (due to the facts mentioned above about time vs distance), so the fastest runners may tend to train more like sprinters than distance runners, but that does not necessarily mean it's optimal for everyone (and especially, whether it's optimal for slower runners). This is also why most of high school 800 runners are more distance-focused compared to the best in the world. If your goal is to turn a 2:15 guy into a 2:05 guy, then mileage and thresholds may be a good prescription. That may no longer hold true when you're dealing with a 1:50 guy trying to run 1:45.
That would be fine for a Johnny Gray, Rudisaha or Juantorena but not for the likes of more strength-based guys like Coe. There is more than one way to be an 800 runner.
"This winter, we tried to go with around 35 miles a week through the winter. Some weeks would have been 28 miles, while some would have been 36 – it just varies depending on what we’re doing. Other than that, I don’t really like to count it. I just like to know my recovery when I’m doing reps.’"
