could running 6x400s at 80-85% hurt my cns, strength, form, endurance, or speed??? b/c i felt really really fast before that workout. the next day, i couldn’t do my quick drills (quick legsat all anymore cuz i felt physically exhausted and mentally drained. it felt like someone had robbed me of my speed. i also felt very slow the next day b/c when i did my baton exchanges, it felt like i was running in slow motion. also after the workouts, i had to run 2 or 3 400m races during the following weeks b/c my coach said it would help my 200m endurance. mind you, i am horrible at the 400m. it’s been 4-5 weeks now since that workout and i have not PRed in the 100m since and i improved in the 200m by only .07sec. could that have hurt me in one of the categories listed above. could you explain the theory behind all this nonsense so i can avoid it next time???
The problem with doing runs in the 80-85% range is that they are not fast enough to help with your speed training, but they are too fast / too intense to easily recover from. That is why those of us who follow Charlie’s training system avoid runs in this range. Instead, we do tempo which is below the 80% threshold. Or we do speed work which is done above 95%.
I think you’ve answered your own question. See XLR8
Many people incorporate intensive tempo(what you have described) training into their programs and to be quite honest some have good overall results but personally I don’t like such training. With my athletes I have found that it does impair their ability to recover and does nothing for their absolute speed nor their speed endurance though maybe a little for SE II. This type of training is best suited for middle distance athletes some would say 800m and above but I would contend 1500m and above. As Dlive11 mentioned here once, it seems(simply an observation-but I think right on the money) as though a lot of nagging little(at the time anyway)injuries tend show up in the athletes. Their recovery seems to be compromised and they never appear to be fully fresh or recovered for speed sessions. I mean what do you do after a day of intensive tempo but extensive tempo or total rest and if instead of the int. tempo you could be achieving something with a true speed workout, you have essentially thrown away a day to make an improvement? Since fully accepting CF’s training protocols, we have gotten better results every year and makes me regret some parts of the training that I subjected my former athletes to. Not bad training necessarily but still not optimal, which I feel we are much nearer to now. I don’t train even my 800m people with intensive tempo and I am pleased with the results.
I don’t think you should jump to conclusions. Do you really think that one misplaced workout is responsible for weeks of stagnation? Also as mentioned before such training does drain your CNS slightly, so it would be silly to expect to be as quick the next day. I am not as anti-intensive tempo as most of the people here, I do believe it has a place for sprinters (200 and 400), but to avoid CNS overload you should do extensive tempo the day after, not speed.
Can one “misplaced” workout be responsible for weeks of stagnation? Yes, absolutely!
When you drop in a workout like that, three things are likely:
1: You get sick/trashed
2: You get injured
3: you get both
there is a difference between tempo and speed endurance right??? cuz your phasing says that there are ONLY two types. isn’t speed endurance also done at 95% but with less recovery time than special speed endurance???
what’s extensive tempo?? the next day we actually did nothing but running drills and baton exhchanges…the drills were very very hard to do b/c it seemed like slow motion (ie high knees). it was suppose to be 80-85% but my quality of the workout quickly diminished after 2 or 3 reps…
you hit it ON THE MARK cf!!! since then i’m been having quad strains, foot pains, and hip pains. and all these injuries have never happened to me before until that workout. i NEVER get injured. the injuries would start occuring left and right out of nowhere. it really sucked cuz i was always hurting. currently my quads are strained and it also came out of nowhere, but i too don’t want to jump into conclusions but i would highly doubt it if that workout did not hurt me at all. i also got sick the next day with a bad cold which lasted a week.
I’m not sure exactly what you are asking. In my mind, there are 2 types of runs…those at <80% (tempo) and those at >95% (speed). Of course, I’m a 60/100m sprinter…there may be other options for a 400m guy.
yeah my coach is more of a middle distance coach so that may explain why the middle distance and 400m guys are soooo great. 4 people on the team can run under 2:05FAT in the 800m and our 4x400 has run a 3:24FAT this year
It’s weird, our school’s team has produced 6 or 7 sub 2:05 FAT guys this year, but not one sub 50 400 runner and the 4x400 team has a best of 3:26. The 4x800 team is quite good though with a best of 7:53 FAT against virtually no competition.
They also base the entire program off of intensive tempo, for the most part.