I was thinking of it as a way of possibly getting quicker results with athletes who were either lazy during GPP or join the team late. I would increast the rest a bit on the monday’s to give the workouts more of a speed element. I can’t see it being too much on the CNS because of the long day…
I don’t know… I’m on week 6 of S-L, did the 3x100 and 3x100 yesterday and today I’m a CNS wreck :o
I think all sessions are hard, in their own ways. If my second SE session was a L-S type, I wouldn’t be too happy… don’t try to make this TOO difficult, is my opinion.
If you have late-comers or lazy people on the team who did not do a proper GPP, they can benefit from tempo and the SE as it is.
I’m with Stef I wouldn’t use it as a catch up.
I may just go straight short to long and use the meets as the second SE workout. Thanks for the imput guys.
I have a small indoor planning issue… I think I ran out of time? Anyway, so far, as soon as I finish my SPP program, I have to jump right into the 10 day taper thingy.
I’m doing the 400m Short to Long.
I did everything up to WEEK 6, and on week 7 I never got to the 300s. I got sick (fever and caughing), and I am still recovering (some caughing), so I decided that this will be my recovery week. And I named it WEEK 7
Prior to what follows, things were going smoothly, until I had to take 3 days off on New Years, the 2nd and the 3rd, due to sickness.
Then: (WEEK 7), where I’m cutting things in half due to de-load purposes:
Monday: Short Speed
Tuesday: caughing like a maniac and took off.
Wednesday: 4x300s tempo on grass.
Thursday: 200+100 (today)
Friday: half of tempo.
Saturday: 300+80
Sunday: half of Power Speed.
Monday: travel to Milan and will take it off, and then resume with WEEK 8?
I just want to make sure this seems right, according to racing schedule, as I’m not quite sure how early the spp should end, before the desired ‘peak’ date (Feb 27).
Racing schedule:
Feb 6 (qualifying race for Balcan Games; I’m giving it a shot). If all remains put, this would be the deload week after week 10.
Feb 13(second qualifying race for Balcan Games). WEEK 11
Feb 20. Indoor Balcan Games WEEK 12
Feb 27 Indoor Greek Nationals
To summarize…
With the above in mind, and considering that I will also need 1 de-load week after week 10, my first race on Feb 6th, falls nicely at the end of the deload week.
Then week 11: with the second race.
Week 12
And I barely create a 10 day taper for the Nationals on the 27th.
mmm… is this too tight? Sorry if it’s confusing…
My question is: What happens when spp is not followed by a pre-comp phase but jumps right into the 10 day taper? (and I don’t know how one plans a pre-comp phase, but anyway…)
We never really used a pre-comp phase- just SPP into comp so any plans you see from me tend to be set up that way. That meets will ake care of most training neeeds and recovey and low level work between should bring you to a peak.
I remember you mention during the outdoor season if the athlete is competing in the 100/200 every weekend you would only perform starts and maybe submax 150’s… What about indoors where the athlete is running the 60 every weekend and the 200 every other week, would you only perform starts and tempo?
Sounds good to me 
Stefanie (or anyone)
What are you going to do for SPP2? Will you keep it at two High Intensity SE days with perhaps shorter sprints up to 60 on one of those days to supplement the work? Will you be repeating the SPP? How have others approached preparation for the outdoor season after doing the 12 weeks?
Oh I have no clue so far :o This is my first time doing it.
I think it will strongly depend on how I perform indoors, spot the things I need to work on, and surely have shorter sprint days (unlike the second part of the current SPP that drops short speed), as I will also want to compete in shorter races outdoors.
Furthermore, I think that almost repeating the same SPP will not be a bad idea at all, because all of November, half December and second half of January and all February of my current SPP is done in around 0 temperature (most times below…), outdoors, oftentimes with snow around, and the quality will not be too good.
I still don’t know how I will pull off training from this Monday and onwards, (when it snows they only shovel 100m at the track on which I train), but I don’t even want to think about that now. Last year it wasn’t so bad, because I only wanted to run the 60m indoors.
But taking one day at a time here! 
I’m interested in others’ responses on this, also.
Yeah
If you are looking to run shorter distances outdoors (100/200) then repeating the SPP 400m s-to-l may not do you any harm IMO (though some of the more experienced coaches/athletes may have something to say about that). I know Charlie has mentioned the use of shorter competition distances to supplement the season for a 400m runner on this sort of programme with competition period training distances of 120 and 150 (mentioned on this thread).
Thoughts?
sounds a plan. Remember though the length of SPP 2 will depend on the time you have. You may even want to do some of the early weeks of the SPP plan on hills as GPP.
Track 007 is right re using races as part of the SPP.
Thanks, things are definately more cleared up.
Now if only this bronchitis went away…
Charlie and others,
I have been following a similar SPP (1 day speed, 1 day special end. e.g. 300/350/450, 1 day speed endurance and 1 day strength endurance (long hills)) only to miss a lot of proper training time due to a persistent adductor niggle and a toe injury which meant i wasnt in full training for about 2 months. I’ve been back on the track for 3 weeks now and whilst my speed is still as good as it has been, my speed endurance and special endurance has dropped off more than i would’ve like - especially my 300m times which are down from high 32s to 33.8-34.0s.
we are 10 weeks out from nationals so in order to regain lost fitness we are thinking of going with one day of speed endurance (80-150) on mondays, split runs e.g. 300+150, 200+200, 150+150+150 etc. on wednesday, and ‘one off’ special endurance runs on friday e.g. 3x300 w. 30mins rest. as i have qualified for nationals already, we are using any competition that is available to race myself into shape.
do you think this set up appropriately bridges the gap between my fragmented SPP2 and a comp phase set up?
I guess that you will need to be careful in terms of volume (If you are adding these one-off 300m runs to your training week) and how this will effect your ability to get ready and progressively improve toward the nationals. You may also want to do some shorter speed work i.e. 60m sprints, as (based on what you have stated) 10 weeks seems quite a long time to go without specifically addressing this element.
The 400m s-to-l SPP starts with 60m sprints. However the 400m has a significant need for aerobic development both in terms of the event itself and in increasing training capacity. Should the GPP’s main focus be on the development of aerobic capacity, or on short distance hill accelerations like in the gpp download in preparation for these 60’s?
that’s a fair point. the cycle we’ve just written starts out at around 2100m for the weekly total and ends around 1700m as after week one competition basically takes over the SE2 side of things and all that remains is the spped/speed endurance and SE1 (back up sessions). As for the max vel. component, we always start each session with block starts (as per charlie’s program) and the main work of my training covers everything from 60-150m (with full recoveries of course) - so that aspect is consistently present, if not the main focus of a session.
e.g. 4x30m blocks, 1x60m, 1x80m, 1x100m, 1x150m, 1x120m
i know it’s not perfect but i think we have more to gain at the end of my race (fitness-wise) than we have to lose speed wise at least in this cycle. the plan is to then go back to a speed/se1/compete format for 6 weeks which should bring us back in touch with speed and thus ensure i dont lose any speed reserve!
i’d go for the short hills for functional power and some intensive tempo for strength endurance/lactic ‘base work’ so that the athlete is able to tolerate the harder sessions to come. extensive tempo volume is established in the gpp and aerobic capacity is maintained by this method (and other low intensity options) for the rest of the training year
I have noticed there isn’t much attention paid to speed endurance in the CF400 S-L template. I am a 400m/200m runner and plan to use a double periodisation model for my upcoming season, with a greater emphasis on my 200m running in the first competition period. As I still want to be able to run a good 400, would I be risking overuse injuries if I extended the speed day into the section section of the program (weeks 7-12) as stand alone a speed endurance session (at the expense of the strength endurance), or would I be better off sacrificing a special endurance day? Typically I respond very well to special endurance training and speed endurance can be something of a weakness for me.
Alternatively – Does split special endurance runs (e.g. 4x80m, 3x100m, 2x150m off short recoveries) have a carry on effect into speed endurance abilities? Obviously they are all at 95-100% of max speed so theoretically at least one of the runs is going to be of very high quality and thus have a benefit to speed endurance (or so I would think). If this is true, then, would this set up still allow me to progress my speed endurance abilities without creating a specific speed endurance day?
[If it is of any use I am 19 years old, in my second year of full time training (PRs: 21.5, 47.97-underdone in the 400 department for sure). I would like to be running 21.0-21.1 in order to increase my speed reserve to take my 400 time down to low 47s-46s in the coming year.]
Are you training 5 or 6 days a week? I’ve had good success with a 5 day programme. 1 speed, 1 speed endurance and 1 special endurance in winter switching to a 1 speed 2 special for the latter part of the season. Results of 46.9s off of a 21.8 200m pb using short to long progression with a focus on 200m early on and then a sprinkling of 400m sessions during the outdoor season.
On recovery weeks we’d go to a 3 day tempo 2 day speed setup BTW.
Based on what your profile you can develop special endurance quite a bit for sure - maybe even dedicate a year to it once you are down to 21.2 or faster at 20 or so.
BTW you probably shouldn’t just copy the 400m programme as that is for a high level athlete. The kind of results you want can be done off something more moderate.
Also look at how you respond to this kind of programme and if you don’t respond well then consider using a session like KK’s 5x200m with 2min recovery at come home pace of the quarter - as that is a great session.