I’ve just read about Johnsons tempo to speed end. transition whereby he starts with 16 x 200m in 36 seconds and each session reduces the reps by 1 and knocks 1 second off the time. After 10 session he ends up with 5 x 200m in 25 seconds.
I read that he does this over 10 months which makes little sense, surely this was a mistake and he does it over 10 weeks (or 11)?
It’s months, every Monday or Tuesday for 10 months. Hart has them spend a month on each number of reps, so in September it’s 4 weeks of 15x200m and in June 5x200m. If I remember correctly he wrote that only a handful have been below 5 reps, MJ has been the only one to get down to 3 reps (3x200m @23 sec on 90 sec recovery) when he prepped for Atlanta.
Is 90sec the rest intervals for all the weeks - 15x200 on 90sec rec?
so if starting immediately following the post season break they will only finish this around the beginning of August the following year, presumably when a major event is scheduled.
Would this type of transition be of any use to youth runners on a 5 month training season? What would the setup look like for volume & speed…
The rest intervals at 15x200 are 2min20sec and it works down to 90 sec (for MJ), the 5x200m is 25 sec pace with 1min40sec rest (women are 3 sec slower pace). There’s a chart on: http://speedendurance.com/2011/08/22/clyde-hart-monday-200-meter-repeats/
Hart also has a couple documents in USATF library: http://www.usatf.org/groups/coaches/library/2007/Sprint%20Training/Clyde_Hart2.pdf
Not sure how youths would cope but maybe just half the number of weeks that the set number of reps are performed over ie. 15 x 200 for 2 weeks instead of 4 weeks, keep all times and rest consistent with the rep number as in the chart.
Keep in mind that 5x200 at 25 is a completely different workout for a 43.18 runner than for a 50.00 runner.
From memory his rule was add the number of reps to your season target time for the 200m to give the running time for that set. For example if your 200m target time for your 200m was 21s then you would perform the 5 x 200m in 26s I.e. 21 + 5 (no of reps in set) = set target time. The key to using a set like this depends heavily on your philosophy of training. Clyde placed extreme importance on this session and periodised it early in the week. It’s important to remember that something that starts of at 35s for 15 reps may look like and extensive tempo session but as it progresses down it will take the shape of intensive tempo and as a consequence have dramatically different impact on subsequent sessions around it.
I would certainly expect this session to have large influence on the sessions around it, and yet the entire program is so intense (based on this http://www.usatf.org/groups/Coaches/library/2007/Sprint%20Training/Clyde_Hart3.pdf). For most 400m runners, 2 such session a week would be the limit and then a seperate speed session and maybe aerobic run/tempo on the weekend. But every week day Clyde Harts programme has some sort of intense running.
This is the program of a 19.3 / 43.2s runner. However, from the example programs he listed much of the running he does although maybe extensive in volume is by no means that intensive for a man with his speed. I think it’s a great example of designing a program around a guy with certain attributes to extract the most from him.
I believe the program was designed for a group of 43-45 sec male sprinters, although some may not have coped as well as Johnson.
Would they have worked on a 4 week microcycle, and if so, had an easy/test week, therefore, not run the applicable number of 2’s during that 4th week, or continued on as normal?
The 16X200 were GPP for Clyde and it starts with 35 second 200s. If you look at Hart’s training on ustfccca, you will not see this workout listed, as it’s before the main training. Clyde Hart stuff is NOT intense and is tempo based, and that’s a main criticism of his system–he doesn’t do much speed development. The listed training is based on a 46 second college runner, and most of it is intensive tempo at ~85%.