Depends where you train as well. If you are in a good climate and can get outside earlier than we can, there is no reason not to. Every situation is unique and in our case, we felt it best to stay on the straight for the highest speed stuff because the corners in Toronto were tight and could lead to injuries.
Awesome. This is why you guys are second to none!
Here are the graphs as promised, with our compliments.
http://www.charliefrancis.com/cfsl/cf400.pdf
Be sure to save this file to your computers.
Enjoy
I hope you guys start studying the graphs and I’ll be interested to hear thoughts on the ratios listed on the supplementary graphs
I’ll take stab at the L-to-S.
In 08 I implemented a plan that looks VERY similar to the one in the new graph.
My primary impression of the system was that gets the athlete’s incredibly fit, both generally and specifically. many, but not all like this and they were ready to compete at a relatively high level after @15 weeks.
The high volumes of ExT that brought about the high general fitness level did become more than a bit tiresome for my athletes though. Some of this was likely a due to having a whiny and spoiled group. It’s just something that I would approach more cautiously. Previous athletes that I have coached never blinked an eye to similar loads.
During our initial competitions my athletes clearly had better max. velocity and speed maintenance than in 07. It changed one athlete’s race plan upside down and she opened indoors a full .08 faster in the 60m than in the previous year (7.82 to 7.74), but her race was more balanced and would have transitioned into the outdoor 100m much better. She didn’t like the fact that her acceleration was slightly less powerful and that she opened .02 off of her p.b. though. She was one of two primary whiners in the group, so this should be taken with a grain of salt.
Having enough energy for weights can also be an issue with the plan. As it is meant to work best with a taller athlete this isn’t as much of an issue. Just something to keep in mind if your dealing with shorter, more powerfully built people.
The one adjustment that I think that I would (and have) make is to add a day of speed development speed development activities. Not necessarily Max.V, rather lots of power speed, med ball accels and eventually short hills. At times I felt that my athletes were loosing touch with with proper mechanics.
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.