On the first day of track practice, a ninth-grader named Ryan, shows up to join the team. Ryan wants to be a middle distance runner, maybe run the mile for his school. Ryan admits to having not run much in his life, but he wants to start today. The middle distance coach sends Ryan out…
Archives for 800 meter
The 6-5-4-3-2 Workout in Middle Distance Training
During specific preparation and pre-competitive training periods there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to achieve future competitive season fitness for the middle distance runner. These two blocks of time are also the most crucial for including a close monitoring of workload by the coach in regard to under-recovery challenges. Middle distance…
Trainability of the Middle Distance Athlete
Why do some athletes develop into accomplished middle distance runners, capable of running fast and winning races, while others get just a little better despite doing similar workouts throughout their careers? Also, most young seventh and eighth graders are about equal in distance running ability after their first season and usually only a few seconds…
Using the Kosmin Test to Determine Middle Distance Athlete Fitness
Athletes and coaches need easy ways to predict race performances and adjust their training without running the full race distance at maximum effort. A coach can predict their middle distance runners 800 meter and 1500 meter times with the Kosmin Test in as little as ten minutes. The Kosmin test is one of the most…
Racing Tactics for the 800 Meters
The 800 meter run is defined as an endurance event in track and field because the aerobic energy demand is slightly higher than the anaerobic energy demand at race pace. It is an event that draws participants both from the long sprint group as well as distance runners that possess good speed. It is not…
Aerobic Power Training
Documented training schemes designed to improve aerobic power velocitym (vVO2 max) in distance runners were first described by the Soviet Sports Institute in the 1970’s. Besides the Eastern Bloc countries, one of the athletics organizations to quickly pick up on the training concept was the British Milers Club in the early 1980’s. Frank Horwill and…
Aerobic Power Primer
All of the standard distance races including cross country are combined zone races. Combined zone means that energy needed for muscular contractions at race pace is derived from both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems in combination. Improvement in both the capacity and efficiency of these independent energy systems, and how they work in tandem,…