Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

Hello everyone.
I have taken the words of advice from everyone and information from books and the internet. Below is the workout I have come up with.

The workouts below are for my training in the 800 and 1500 meters. I have a two week cycle and a one week cycle. Please remember I am 12 and I want to get my 800 time to 2:15 and my 1500 meter time to 4:40. Please let me know which one you guys think is the best.

One week cyce.

Monday: 8-12 X 200 meters with a 1 minute rest between

Tuesday: 3 mile easy run in the grass

Wednesday: 8-12 X 400 meters with a 2 minute rest...I will be lowering the rest period by 10 seconds per week or two starting in April.

Thursday: 3 mile easy run in the grass

Friday: 5k tempo run in grass; I can do that in the high 21 minute range

Saturday: 5 mile long run in the grass

Sunday: Rest

Two Week Cycle

Monday: 5k Tempo Run in grass

Tuesday: 3 mile easy run in grass

Wednesday: 8-12 X 400 meters with a 2 minute rest...I will be lowering the rest period by 10 seconds per week or two starting in April.

Thursday: 4 mile easy run in the grass

Friday: off

Saturday: Speed Endurance: 8 X 200 meters ALL OUT with full recovery or 5 X 300 meters ALL OUT with full recovery

Sunday: 3 mile easy run in grass

Monday: 5k tempo run in grass; I can do that in the high 21 minute range

Tuesday: 3 mile easy run in grass

Wednesday: 8-12 X 400 meters with a 2 minute rest...I will be lowering the rest period by 10 seconds per week or two starting in April

Thursday: 3 mile easy run in grass

Friday: off
Saturday: 8-12 X 200 meters with a 1 minute rest between

Sunday: 3 mile easy run in grass

Well there it is. Which workout would be better. Number 1 or number 2?

[Dan]

That seems like a pretty good start to a training plan, although I don't think you need nearly that much long tempo work. It could help for the 1500, but probably not much for the 800.

As for cycles, I think a 3 week cycle is the best approach. Build up steadily for 3 weeks, drop back for a week, then repeat.

Dan

[Distance_Guru]

Not bad, the only thing I would change is instead of so many tempo's and easy runs I would add in a medium run or two, but if you came up with that as a 12 year old I've got to give you props there is absolutly nothing wrong with what you have planned.

_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

[Hammer]

Don't worry about putting in Easy Days into your program. I good friend of mine would always tell me, "If you work hard everyday you might get FAST." We were talking about overtraining. American HS coaches are always afraid of burning out runners. If your legs are a little heavy thats OK, you are not burning out!!!

[Dan]

Hammer, you've got to be kidding?! You would really pass along such advice to a young, developing athlete? Would you be willing to sign off on the liability for the almost certain injury and/or loss of athletic livelihood that would ensue?

Dan

[Shaun Fox]

easy days and rest days are essential for recovery if you run hard to much you will be running tired. you should never do a hard session and then the next day do another hard session otherwise your asking for injury and tiredness.

[NYIntensity]

if you're healthy and injury free, there's absolutely nothing wrong with working tired. as long as you have that motivation. if you can't push yourself through tiredness, you're not going to win. 2 hard workouts in a row arent bad. but have a day of rest after them. i know in cross country if we didn't race well sometimes even that nite we'd do a hard run, and the next day would be speed work on the track. its all about how your body feels. as long as you have base mileage in, you're probably ok doing 2 hard workouts in a row. your risk for injury is lower

[Dan]

Wow, I can't believe some of the advice being passed around the last few days... Working through fatigue and running tired on a regular basis could not be much more different. Train tired and you'll never reach a very high level in your workouts. If you want to go on to be a mediocre runner on a daily basis, feel free to continue down that path...

Doing another hard workout after racing poorly simply compounds the reasons you didn't run well, which strikes me as highly counter-productive.

Dan

[Distance_Guru]

Mark Wetmore

"Most American's are over analyzed and undertrained."

It's true, people get down on Americans for not being able to compete with the top international athletes and then blast guys like Hammer for saying that you need to work hard to get better. And I'm not advocating having 13 year old's running 80 miles a week with no day's off but, I see it all the time, High School Seniors running 25-30 miles a week and having never run more than 6 miles at any one time that think they are really working hard. Look at Ritz, the guy might be the best true distance runner to come out of the US high school system since Pre. He was running 100 miles a week in HS. I don't think that's realistic for most high school students, but Shorter and Joe Vigil both recommend a mileage progression of 20mpw as a freshman, 30 as a sophmore, 40 as a junior and 50 as a senior and I think that for most distance runners that will be adequate if a little on the conservative side. Although over in Kenya there are a ton 17 year old's doing mileage that would have made Ritz cringe a year ago.

_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

[Shaun Fox]

I think the most important thing is to listen to your body if you have just done a hard session the day before and feel really tired then you should rest or do something just to losen up, but if your still feeling good then do something more strenuous. Basically everyones an individual and training will effect different people differently. The best thing to do is do the training and find out what works best for you.

[Dan]

[Hammer]

Of course Shorter and Vigil were talking about the average HS XC runner, not great runners. I have also heard him (personally at a clinic) say that HS coaches are doing the American Distance Running Community a dis-service by not running HS runners enough. A gradual increase in mileage (throughout a life time) will lead to improvement. An increase in effort will lead to an improvement. An increase in both can lead to greatness.

[Hammer]

Hey Dan I bet you were waiting your whole life to use that Voltaire quote......

[Dan]

Actually, I use that quote every chance I get.

Dan

[Hammer]

DG's Quote was honorable. He was quoting Mark Wetmore for gosh sakes. Its not like he was quoting Dan Kaplan.