Wouldn’t this thread look better as a sub-forum about 4" further up the screen? I know several posters who flirt with or train specifically on these events. Basic speed accounts for one very crucial quality every middle runner must have; pretty relevant to the site as a whole. Some love for the 8…? I’ll volunteer a post with all the relevant 800m thread links if it happens. 
What do you think this is Elitetrack or something? Go home to all your skinny moma’s boy distance runners… Err hey wait a minute… nvm. Where’s the love for the 800m?
Here are a few threads as a resource for 800/middle distance runners looking to incorporate some of Charlie and the forum’s methods:
800m training:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=136&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=416&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=882&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=2706&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=3589&highlight=800
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=3817&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=5519&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=5628&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6580&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7441&highlight=800m
Strength training:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=918&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=3831&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6670&highlight=800m
GPP ideas:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=3102&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7634&highlight=800m
Books:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=3152&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=8512&highlight=800m
the famous Lactate Threshold thread (check page 7)
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7593&highlight=800m
Concepts useful for middle distance runners to consider:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7644&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7669&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=8118&highlight=800m
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=260&highlight=800
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7969&highlight=800
Charlie on Lydiard:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6571&highlight=800
MJ Training:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=5352&highlight=800
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6789&highlight=800
Holy chicken Mole’ batman. YOu should get a fricken Award… may be just a rep point, though
I can’t believe I said some of the stuff I said about the 800m, a year ago. Wow, I was young, then :eek:
Bumpity Bump… I’m going to start brain working on my winter strength training. Right Now. Thoughts. I was thinking a basic 5-6 lift program, with lots of medicine ball and b/w work. And then maybe some plyos.
bumpity bumpola. A man has to keep these things where people can see them, or the “people” might forget they’re their.
Alright Palmtag, you know I’ll bite when it comes to the 800. How is that winter strength training coming? I really like the GPP plan layed out on the DVD for a sprinter, and think this would work pretty well for a middle distance guy.
The strength gains ought to convert well to acceleration, and then give a good starting point to extend out to special endurance. The winter aerobic running period would be a great time for the heavy volume of weight room work in my opinion. All that muscle fatigueing race-pace work is not coming till Spring, so there isn’t interference between strength training and middle-distance pace training. Aerobic qualities like capillarization, lactate threshold, and VO2 max can be the focus, simultaneously with weights strength and short speed.
So you could essentially go short to long with anaerobic paces, and long to short with aerobic paces.
Winter strength is coming along, “all right”. We’re developing our anearobic strength in cross country right now. Our last workout was 6x800@+1min faster 5kRP and 3 min rest. So I hit each 800 2:40-2:30 with a 2:25 finish. It beat the crap out of me.
I’ve also heard that the Ethiopians do 30-60 meter sprints before their workouts because the distance is too short to develop lactate. Any thoughts? Could I apply that to my regular training?
The problem with the 800 is that, when you´re tired, there´s another round coming…
I did my first today,
2:44 / 3:03 / 3:25 / 3:06 / 3:04 and then at the end i got a “bad news” from coach, because times should be around 4:00, recovery train was the proposit.
So that 6x800 workout sounds like 3k-pace or so, which should be a good VO2max builder; helpful now for XC and later for the 800 background.
I agree that you wouldn’t get lactic out of those short sprints if you take a decent recovery between them. I don’t think I would do a heavy session of them in addition to the 800’s. Maybe just a few to set good form and foot strike for the distance repeats.
I’m setting up my winter training schedual right now, it’s pretty interesting. My focus’s during this period of my training are going to be 1) Lactate Threshold 2) Aerobic Capacity 3) Strength.
Lactate threshold: using fartleks, 30:00-40:00 mins steady state runs (a bit slower than 10k pace) tempo runs of shorter duration (2x10:00 and 3x1600m repeats) and (I forget the difference between extensive and intensive tempo, but I’ll be doin’ the less intense kind…) Extensive Tempo 3-8km in distance.
Aerobic capacity: Easy runs 6-8 miles, long runs 9-15 miles, steady state runs 30-40mins
Stength: Hills once per week, and tri-weeky weight room visits and 4/week bodyweight circuits.
I will also be doing short speed once a week, (prior to my long runs as described before)
I like what you’ve got here; in fact I’m training very similarly at the moment. I found though, that only doing short speed once a week made things very ragged. I’ve switched to doing a few 5-10 second bursts on all the easy runs, and the coordination and springiness are now much better.
I showed my coach my training plan. What he could see is that I had a very condensed program. Too many fartleks, tempo work, hills, steady states. For the first phase of a 24 week pgrm I was jamming too much into a short amount of time. I’ve stretched it out, and am still doing the same KIND of work, with the same weekly Milage, but I’m doing more easy runs during my week (3-4 instead of 1-2). It’s lookin’ pretty good.
Where is a good place to find the specific lifts an 800m type runner should do?
What is so specific about lifts for 800-m runners?
Heh, good point Nik. I just pm’ed joel and he said that It’d be best if I just stuck with a general program, starting with circuits, and building up to a max str phase.
It sounds good, especially if you haven’t done any structured strength training before; you’ll have to cut down on these kind of sessions later on perhaps, so do your best now…
Good luck!