Where I live, the indoor track season starts the Monday after Thanksgiving. And if I expect to have a good season, I better have already spent some serious time planning and creating the annual plan for my short and long sprinters. (As well as my ‘super long sprinters’ who run the ridiculous 600m race here in…
Archives for 400m workouts
Will This Actually Improve Your 400 Meter Runners?
I like to think I’m a pretty good sprints coach. And that I create pretty good sprints coaching programs. So, of course, you won’t be surprised when I tell you how much I think you’ll like my recent program, ‘Compete High School 400 Meter Training’. Or that if you order today: You will get immediate…
Why 10k Pace is Critical for 400/600/800m Athletes (Video)
Ron Grigg’s ‘Complete Program Design for 400/600/800 Meter Athletes’ Planning training for our primary event 400/600/800m athletes comes down to finding the optimal mix of ‘speed’ and ‘endurance’ related training activities. In doing this dance, we also must be aware of the impact our own personal coaching bias plays in selecting various workout parameters. For…
The Truth About Coaching 400/600/800 Athletes
Download: The 7 Laws of 400/600/800 Meter Coaching Success The 400/600/800 meter events have definite speed requirements, yet they also have high to predominant aerobic contributions. The athletes who excel at 400/600/800 meters do not possess a high percentage of type 2b fast twitch fibers as would be found in pure sprinter. They also…
Share the Knowledge – 400m Training
During the second half of the season I shy away from racing long sprinters in the 400m every week. I’ve found this strategy effective because it allows me to evaluate where each athlete is in his or her training. As part of the evaluation process I use several staple workouts to help gauge improvement levels…
The Key to Success in the Long Sprints: Speed Reserve
Developing a ‘speed reserve’ through a well designed speed development program is essential to success in the track & field sprint events, especially the ‘lactic acid’ events like 300m (especially for girls), 400m and 400h. Speed reserve is, essentially, the difference between an athlete’s maximum speed and their maximum aerobic speed. In many coaching situations,…
What is The Best Way to train 400m runners?
Within the world of 400m coaching, there lies a spectrum of viable approaches we can take to elicit respectable performances out of our sprinters, regardless of age, gender or innate talent level, especially when you want to train 400m runners. Combine my lack of belief in concepts like ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ with being hypercompetitive well…
3 Reasons Sprinters Fall Apart at the End of Races
Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a 6 hour freshman/sophomore meet. The meet was very well run, it was just, you know, a 6 hour freshman/sophomore meet. I can’t tell you how many times I watched sprinters fall apart at the end of races. So, I’m standing there, minding my own business and…
The Circle of Truth
I have received a lot of great feedback and questions about sprint workouts and the Master Class on the 100m. One question that came up a few times pertained to “runs” early on in the season. I was confused at first by these questions because sprinters go on runs every day. As a matter of…
This will make your life easier
My first job out of college was not coaching track, it was teaching a classroom full of kids with behavioral, social and emotional disorders. Spend a few full work days restraining a kid screaming racial slurs and trying to spit at and bite you for six hours and you quickly learn the art of patience….
Sprinting Techniques
Sprinting Techniques By Latif Thomas Sprinting technique is all about power and efficiency. In a sport where ‘elite’ and ‘run of the mill’ athletes are separated by fractions of a second, getting the most out of an athlete’s ability is essential to success, from the youth through professional levels. How efficient an athlete’s running style…
400m Training vs McDonald’s
Last week I posted some information (here and here) about training 400m runners. And I endorsed the speed based ‘short to long’ approach. Invariably, every time this topic comes up, people immediately say, ‘But so and so says train slow to get fast’. Well, here’s the thing about that… If you perennially get a…