Kevin Tyler on Tyler Christopher

not sure about the jon anderson repeat 60’s thing, he did do 4x4x60 quite alot but 3x300 with 20 min, 6x300 with 3 min and 3x4x150 with 90sec and 5 min were making up the majority of the rest of the schedule, quite a lot for the “almost nothing else catergory”!

How fast was the 6x300 3 min. Thats seem a tough workout.

Not 100% sure but it was termed a lactic tolerance session. My old coach is one of Mr Andersons best friends so alot of the stuff i do has evolved from what he believed in for a 400m runner. They’re intended to be done at 85-90% so for a guy of Jenkins quality the target times would probably be around 37 ish. I dont know for sure though and i dont know the drop off over the rep range either. From personal experience, the last rep aint pretty!

Isn’t that the bread & butter of most coaching, get one freakish talent going and many others will want to join in. Talent attracts talent.

So what are the differences between full recovery short sprints and partial recovery? Do they reduce the neural component somewhat and require more muscular adaptations? How about the SE V more generic endurance work such as KK’s 5-6x200. Does it encourage non-neural physiological adaptations?

What is happening here?

6x300 off 3 minutes starting at 37 even with a drop down to 39 is one tough workout. Top 800m runners can do 6x300 in 39s from 3min recovery, haven’t seem many 400m guys do this.

That’s cos you have to train yourself to do it but is it really worth it anyway? If you do it week in week out eventually you will adapt to it but does it help the 400m more than other options?

As for 5x60 vs 1x300m well you have 50% of the time spent accelerating in the 5x60m session as opposed to about 10% with the 300m session. Also repeat 60m runs probably don’t work so well for 400m training if you don’t do the tempo. At least this is what I’ve seen comparing what i do to other camps. For the pure 60m sprint you can get away without tempo but for the 100m and up you really need something in there to build fitness and flush the body out.

That’s really the ultimate question in training for this event. What Kevin Tyler is espousing is radically different from the norm and I think that people have trouble understanding the concept because it challenges their belief system.

They have tempo upfront in the program and then in the background. I don’t get the impression that the volumes are particularly high, though I could be wrong on this.

Does anyone have any examples of tempo sessions Tyler uses with his athletes e.g volumes through different phases, distances, recoveries, intensity etc.? I have seen 8/10x200m quoted somewhere before…

Maybe learning efficient acceleration patterns is vital in the 400m. Setting up the right contacts and stride F/L may stem from the work done on the first bend. But this is mostly due to neuromuscular factors. I think shorter recovery speed reps facilitate more physiological changes that improve speed.

I agree on split reps…but on the other end, we need longer reps to develop a smooth economic running…also, although the energy system can maybe be stressed equally, I think it’s way different for a 400m specialist to run a full event vs a split…you have to know where you are, from a distribution of effort side also.

I agree on split reps…but on the other end, we need longer reps to develop a smooth economic running…also, although the energy system can maybe be stressed equally, I think it’s way different for a 400m specialist to run a full event vs a split…you have to know where you are, from a distribution of effort side also.

I agree on split reps…but on the other end, we need longer reps to develop a smooth economic running…also, although the energy system can maybe be stressed equally, I think it’s way different for a 400m specialist to run a full event vs a split…you have to know where you are, from a distribution of effort side also.

I agree on split reps…but on the other end, we need longer reps to develop a smooth economic running…also, although the energy system can maybe be stressed equally, I think it’s way different for a 400m specialist to run a full event vs a split…you have to know where you are, from a distribution of effort side also.

I agree on split reps…but on the other end, we need longer reps to develop a smooth economic running…also, although the energy system can maybe be stressed equally, I think it’s way different for a 400m specialist to run a full event vs a split…you have to know where you are, from a distribution of effort side also.

The history of coaching is that nothing works and yet everything works. Everything in course will be turned on its head. So we go from volume of short reps, to minimal volume of long reps to variations of both and across time just about any type of training has been shown to produce at least one world class 400m performer.

As a coach you have to reconcile this against your own education and logic, come up with a program that may start out in a generic sense and then tailor it to suit the individual athlete you are working with.

So I would advocate a kind of mixed bag of all-sorts, every variety of training that over a fairly strict time-line covers the bases for the 400m event as we understand it (aerobic, anaerobic, alactic, technical elements, pace judgment, race modelling, power underpinned by absolute strength etc etc). It’s not the most scientific approach, but nor is it all about “the art” of coaching. The reality is that it Does take a process of trial and error (hopefully not grievous error) before a coach will arrive at the stage where s/he becomes the Master of his/her own program. That’s about as good as it’s going to get.

You might consider the possibility that split reps allow you to train at a higher pace sooner and the longer SE later allows you to cover the H.I. requirements of the whole race.

AGREED. Like piecing your race model together when the components are prepared.

Yes. that’s well put.