400 Meso Planning

I haven’t found the info for this in the archives, so I am asking the question now.

I am curious as how meso emphasis should be. I have seen you guys talk about a max strength phase, an endurance phase, etc. I am curious as to how you would plan these out for a 400 runner?

I am going to be doing the following as far as phase lengths:

GPP - 8 weeks
SPP - 12 weeks
Pre-Comp. - 8 weeks
Competition - Rest of season (probably 4 weeks)

I was planning on just progressing as far as volumes are concerned as well as fading from one thing (i.e. - acc. dev.) to the next (i.e. - maxV), like that. But, I am confused about this meso setup that I have seen from you guys.

I know the 1st 4 weeks aren’t really important as far as a concentration since I am just transferring my football conditioning to track conditioning and “changing modes” so-to-say. But, what about the rest?

Can you guys help? Thanks.

First off are you running indoors?

No, this is going to take me from Dec./Jan. through July. If my team makes it to state again this year (football), then I’m not going to start training until Jan. making my SPP 8 weeks. If not, then everything is going to be setup as is. Thanks.

Alright cool. I heard you guys have some fast indoor tracks in AZ though. Could you give us a setup of your meet schedule?

I wouldn’t know about the track. I got in trouble before the indoor meet and couldn’t go. Because I’m starting so late I’m not even worrying about competiting at the 1 indoor meet anyways.

But, I will be competiting periodically from March-May with a bunch of dummie meets where I will be the only one in my age group (probably) and so I will be running with the Master’s division runners. I’m not running for my school for many reasons and if you wanna know why PM me.

Anyways, my main peak is going to be during July. I am trying to qualify for Youth Nationals (not JO’s) and Regions. I will start my main competitive season (the meets that count) at the end of May/beginning of June. I need to do good during the state JO’s in May/June if I don’t run a fast enough time to qualify me for Youth Nationals or my season will end in June (much disappointment to follow). I need at least a 51.0 to make Youth Nationals (54.42 is current PB).

So, I guess you can say that I need a mini-peak during the May/June meet and my main peak in July. Hope I covered everything.

BTW, just in case you were wondering, my mesos are 3-1, basically like everyone else. Thanks.

Alright why were you not allowed to go to the track meet? I cant wait to hear this.

PS keep the volume low untill you hit 8-12 weeks before the season. The main build up phase is the most important part of your training. What are you doing for recovery?

I honestly don’t remember, but I probably either got an attitude with my mom or got an attitude with my mom. That is the only thing I ever get in trouble for.

Let me make sure I understand this correctly. You are saying to keep volume low until the Pre-Comp. phase, basically?

For recovery, I don’t really have much to work with (both money wise and everything else), so the best I could do is maybe an ice bath (how much ice?), contrast shower, epsom salt bath (warm or hot? I use warm), and that’s it. I do tempo every other day as it allows me to get the most out of my hard days and I am going to do pilates on tempo days as well for relaxation and muscle recovery purposes (I used it a couple of times after tempo days and it really does help).

What would you say my volume should be at for each different type of workout per phase?

I was thinking ext. tempo would increase to a max of 2400m during the SPP and then decrease during Pre-Comp. and Competition phases. Acc. Dev. would stay below 250m-300m and I don’t know how high to get when all I am doing is maxV and speed development (short speed). Everything else I don’t know.

How about micro setup? I was thinking this…

GPP -
4 weeks:
Monday - Int. Tempo
Tuesday/Thursday - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - Acc. Dev.
Friday - Hills
Saturday - Extended Warmup and strides

4 weeks:
Monday - Acc. Dev.
Tues./Thurs. - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - Split Runs (like 250/30sec./3x60…stuff like kitkat does)
Friday - Hills
Saturday - Running A’s and overdistance Ext. Tempo runs (over 400m+ reps)

SPP:
4 weeks:
Monday - Acc. Dev. turning into speed development
Tuesday/Thursday - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - Split Runs
Friday - Hills
Saturday - Running A’s and overdistance Ext. Tempo

4 weeks:
Monday - Speed Development
Tues./Thurs. - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - SE2
Friday - Hills
Saturday - Same

Pre-Comp:
Monday - MaxV
Tues./Thurs./Sat. - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - SE1
Friday - Short Speed work (30-60m reps)
Saturday - SE2

Competition:
Mon./Fri. - Short Speed/MaxV
Tues./Thurs. - Ext. Tempo
Wednesday - SE1
Saturday - Extended warmup, hurdle mobility, strides

Then the next week I switch and do MaxV on Wednesday and Speed Endurance on Mon./Fri. I will trade SE1 for SE2 closer to the peak.

Plyos every Mon./Fri. starting with SPP and lifting 3 days a week continuing from where I am now. I also plan on throwing in short and long bounds somewhere. Any suggestions?

Sorry for the long question/response. Thanks anyway…to anyone who answers.