Where I live, there’s a blizzard happening. I can’t tell you how excited I am to shovel the 24+ inches of snow that has fallen. By excited, I mean I will cry myself to sleep tonight. Regardless, I thought I’d share a video playlist from my YouTube Channel. And by ‘I thought’, I mean I…
Archives for 800 meter workouts
Two Long Sprints Programs I Steal From Every Day
We had our Divisional State Relay Championship this past Saturday and all four of my ‘primary’ relay teams (girls and boys 4×200 and 4×400) ran faster than they did all of last year. Girls 4×2 came into the meet with a 1:48.07 season best and school record of 1:46.77, set in 2013. They went bananas,…
Setting up an Anaerobic Profile
In middle-distance training it is important that workouts are determined by certain individual anaerobic index performance values that are unique to each athlete. In distance training it is common to use the athlete’s field-tested, date sensitive,VO2 max value to determine workout pace intensity for aerobic work. As an example, a four mile tempo run should…
Recovery, Regeneration, and Rest for Middle Distance Runners
It has been said that the most important reason a runner needs a coach is to help them with the time intervals between work, and not for the work itself. It is somewhat surprising that the concept of training at goal-paced effort or faster, punctuated by periods of rest in order to endure the effort,…
Running in the Modern World- Runner Safety
Responsible coaches are many things to their athletes. Most of the focus of responsibility concerns teaching the athletes the skills that allow them to be successful. All coaches recognize the dangers in their sport, with some scenarios more obvious than others. A track coach may briefly explain a few rules about runner safety, running on…
Fall 800 Meter Training
For 800 meter specialists, fall is the time of the year for extended general preparation activities in 800 meter training, that lead into a shorter period of specific preparation work. In some instances the 800 meter runner is a member of the cross country team. This scenario is more likely to occur in a high…
Structuring a Middle Distance Workout Session
The useful thing about modern training theory is that it was put together by scientists using empirical and replicable evidence rather than a hodge-podge of ideas and intellectual artifacts advanced by coaches. Because it is rooted in science, training theory is an ever-changing set of principles and concepts that evolve as better scientific testing is…
Do Not Neglect Speed and Speed Endurance Workouts
Modern training theory is invaluable in applying scientific research to the development of middle-distance runners. Knowing how to set up training microcycles that include all of the necessary session components during a training phase is critical to progressive development. Modern training theory does not suggest that training microcycles need to be seven days in length. …
How to Run the 800 Meter
Click here to watch How to Run the 800 Meter Hi, everybody. Welcome to Stillwater High School. This is the human performance lab that I have and my physiology classroom here in Stillwater, Minnesota, and I’d like to talk to you today about how to run the 800 meter and a little bit about developing…
Middle Distance Winter Training
Middle distance winter training is the time of the year that many physiological development gains can be made in middle distance athlete fitness, and not just in the endurance component of training. Speed, strength, coordination, and flexibility gains can be realized as well during this calendar period despite the weather. It can also be a…
The Essence of the Endurance Training Program
Over the past 60 years all sport training models have benefited from the scientific principles that scientists have developed to explain the natural world. The application of scientific laws and theories by coaches has transformed athletic training from a trial and error method to a systematic model of periodized development. The important link in this…