Charlie and Rupert, thanks for posting this. Very informative. Now I have to figure out which approach to use with HS girls and how much to modify it for a shorter season.
In L-S, the first 4 weeks on the split runs, are there accel limits at all?
Having used the original L-S this year, interesting to find my athlete ran a season PB after doing the week 12 workouts. After eliminating the 300s and working down through the original L-S we found it hard to imrpove 400 time but saw improvement in 200. My point being I will keep the longer distances in next year.
You can certainly use them but the run itself tends to create it’s own limits via intimidation!
If you were at the very highest levels, you would already have a reasonable sense of pace.
These programs were used primarily for girls. Both were juniors and the peaking was ideal with PBs in the Olympics- the S-to-L girl did 50.22 relay split after missing the entire fall and winter prep period and the L-to-S girl ran 51.55 in the individual. The second girl’s coach had contacted me as the S-to-L approach he favored hadn’t worked for her and I sent him what you see here and he used it directly.
In the L-S Tuesday sessions, as well as the Thursday sessions from week 5 on, the rest intervals keep increasing. Does this imply that the paces also keep increasing. Can you give an idea of percentages at the beginning and end of the 12 weeks? Also, the strength endurance sessions shown in tan – I assume they are on the track?
The 7x300m. Is that ext tempo pace or int tempo.
I would like to ask you about pace. For instance: 2x(3x100m) rest 90"/25’ or 2x(200+2x80) rest 90"/40’
Is that ran in 95% of max? Or less? Or with full effort to the point of throwing up? 
Thanx…
And another question: Can I use for 400mH too? Like ditance= numbers of hurdles?
The conditions for improved times are provided for by longer breaks. As most of the improvements will lie in the range of PBs it is hard to put percentages on it.
always extensive
I would think so but you would have to decide how much of the speed work would be over hurdles
Thanks for this information. Three questions.
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In the S2L, the alactic day drops out after 7 weeks. Is this because the necessary speed has been developed, or because this work is beginning to compete with the special endurance demands, which are increasing every week? Is this required to intensify the SE?
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In the L2S, with the first rep being 300m throughout the training period, should performance be going up throughout the cycle, or is it more of a general trend as fitness moves up, and volumes come back down? Should athletes be leaving something “in the tank” in the beginning?
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How do these training plans fit in the yearly cycle? Is process repeated, but at a higher level, or does the training move more towards SE (S2L) and more towards Speed (L2S) with each phase?
Thanks again.
1: Yes
2: There is some moderation but the times generally progress as specific ability is put in place.
3: The plans actually begin to converge and that would be reflected if subsequent, short, SPPs occurred. The S-to-L you see here was set up as a single SPP due to the particular circumstance but would normally follow a substantial GPP and all 400 programs would normally have longer GPP lead-ins, IMO, which would leave somewhat less time in further SPP cycles.
I think you can evaluate all this best with a review of the lactate thread in the archives- that’s a gold mine.
When you say S-to-L hadn’t worked for that female 400m runner, what were the specific signs of same? Was it a failure to progress or had she actually regressed?
Much of this tends to be down to the mindset of the athlete. I had a very good male 400m hurdler who would have done well with a S-to-L approach which would likely have been similar to what Adam Kunkel HAD been doing. The problem was that when I got him he was so used to pounding out 600’s that he got nervous when they were taken out of the program. He eventually left for another coach who would work him harder. He regressed, never breaking 50.00 again until he returned midway through 2000. He toyed with a comeback in 2004 and was committed to building from the speed end. In the end her knew that her was done and never followed through.
On the other hand, as I outlined earlier in the thread, I had female sprinter who was benefitting from the L-to-S plan except that she had been developed on a pure power/speed program. Things were going well, but she didn’t believe in what we were doing and nothing could change her mind.
I don’t know all the details but I would think it was specific physical adaptation rather than a belief issue because the others in that group had thrived on S-to-L at that time. I think, though, if you look at both the approaches I’ve outlined, they are not nearly as severe as the type of pounding program you mention.
I would also mention a case I became involved in with a female 400mh. I had a number of discussions with the coach and wasn’t getting anywhere when I suggested that his program was impossibly hard.
When the girl moved here for school, I was asked to supervise technically, so, rather than argue fruitlessly, I simply discarded his plan and switched to a S-to-L plan and didn’t tell him since he wasn’t here to see it anyway. Her speed came up dramatically and she dropped 2 seconds in the 400h and made the Olympic team.
Only problem was, after not being told, the coach became more convinced than ever that he was right all along and he gained credibility because of her results.
Charlie - in a collegiate setting where you had 14 weeks to train before finals and winter break, would a set up like this work?
Very short GPP followed by Long-Short SPP. Then over Winter Break (5 weeks) GPP followed by a Short-Long SPP during indoor season? Your thoughts. Most of my kids are away from me during winter break and some are in cold climates.
US Collegiate programs tend to be on the brutal side. The 400m hurdler in question was, and still is a workaholic, so he would always try to do more. If the previous coach said 2x600m he would try to do 3 or 4. If the coach said no to increased volume he would run them below the assigned pace. The problem was that his running mechanics were crap. He trained with me briefly in 94-95 and all I did was try to clean up his sprinting and hurdling. The only endurance work was ExT like stuff. This made him nervous after a couple of months and he returned to his college coach and got slower. Going into 95-96 we had a very good “sit-down” and stuck with the program for the next two years. His dropped from 50.84 to 49.73, while working 40 hours a week. Make no mistake, he still trained hard, but most of it was ExT. He loved it because he felt like he was being challenged due to the high volumes. I also had a even more talented female 400m hurdler who left at the same time for the same reasons, but didn’t come back, working her way through 3 more coaches before fading away. My perception is that with her a L-to-S would have worked better as she was the same height as the male hurdler (5’10") and not as elastic or naturally fast.
This begs the question, other than climatic and facility questions, what other factors are involved in deciding which plan to embark on?
Q1. why is it reduced to 2 hi intensity days? could speed work not continue on the wed or even some speed endurance .i.e 120,150.
Q2. instead of power speed & strength endurance on sat could a 5-6x200m 2min rec at target come home pace be done instead, followed by a rest day (sun) for the first 7 weeks then return to extensive tempo week 8-12.
Q3. what exactly is the strength end?, running A drill for 60-100m?
Q4. what would the competition period look like? maybe 2 hi intensity days, day 1 -some blocks 30-50m, race modeling 200+200 , day 2 - race or special endurance(200-300)
hi charlie, can you please outline what are your recoveries and % intensities for your saturday strength endurance session in weeks 5-12 of s2l and for weeks 1-12 of l2s??
Thanks for the graphs!
I hope this falls under the no questions too stupid to ask catergory but…where are the 12 weeks presented in the graphs supposed to fall in an annual plan for a high school athlete?
Depending on your weather and your season length, this could be the workouts for the year. Following the first set or S-L adnd L-S, I would follow it close for about 6 weeks, then let the meets take up the rest of the workouts for the season with good results. I’m in cold weather state