I will have to take time to STUDY all these information! Thank you very much for the clear discussion, KK. And for your time.
It will be interesting to see how the GPP develop into SPP (questions that AthleticsCoach asked) … but my questions about that at a later stage.
My athlete has a PB of 45,30. With this programme, I am sure that the 44’s is possible!
One quick question - With this PB in mind, what would you expect from your athlete timewise for the track sessions? In the second week, e.g. - The same intensity for the sprints ladder AS WELL AS the 300+150? Do you keep the athlete the full 6 weeks on the 200 (time trial) + 2"? Or do you emphasise different intensities with these 2 sessions plus the 200’s? (Hope the question is clear!)
Do you make use of progression in the GPP as well? Say for instance starting at a 46" 400 - with a 22+24, concentrating on the 24" 200 during the first 6 weeks. In the second 6 weeks 45" maybe?
Or do you start off with your target of 44" - thus 21+23?
I’m pressed for time today and will need some time to think through these questions.
Probably quite a lot of answers could be found in this thread if you backtrack.
But essentially if I was working with a 45.3 guy, I would be thrilled again. But he must be given the facts which are that when he gets to the Comm or Oly or Worlds, he must understand that 45.3 might get him to the final but nowhere near a medal - and quite possibly in a tough year, nowhere near a final either. My best male had to run 44.3 just to get to an Olympic final one year when the standard was extremely high. It can go like that from one year to the next, can’t it. And you have to present the stats to your 45.3 man and simply make him realise that with a talent like he obviously does have, it is worth him commiting now to go low 44. I remember Jamaica’s magnificent Bertland Cameron winning the 400m at the inaugural Helsinki world championships. Five years later in Seoul he ran a personal best time - yet failed even to reach the final!
So your guy has to “expect the best but prepare for the worst”.
That said, I would start working as much as possible around the times specific to 44-flat 400 models. That doesn’t mean he will run anything like 44.0 straight out of GPP, But with sets like 300+150 you can start by setting the 300m pace up (eventually) at 34sec to 33sec. Now he may start out running 35-high on a bad day, but by the end of pre-season he ought to be working down in the business zone of sub-34sec - so that is at least what he will have to run for the final 300m of his 44sec 400 metres race. And it is also relevant that the jump from 35.9sec for example, down to 33sec is not so huge.
Ditto with the 5x200m in 23sec. That’s not a fast time for a 45sec 400man. But he’ll be hurting after the third rep in 23-something with 2min recoveries between reps.
And, as I’m certain I mentioned earlier on this “lactic threshold” thread, if the wind is too difficult or the athlete is a little tight or sore or the weather is too cold, then take the heat (speed) out of the opening 300m and run it in 37sec even, but then put the effort into the back-up 150m and run it with assistance of the prevailing wind. But leave this session at two sets of 300+150 because you might tear yopur guy down too much and wreck him for the next few sessions.
I will go over the other questions when I get a spare moment, but now it’s off to basketball.kk
1:) YES. This program goes into a four-week (minimum period) transition after which it is “safe” to start competing. By that I mean, the results won’t be sensational, but the athlete won’t get injured.
The month of transition includes ins-and-outs as part of the warmup for the first time on two days designated as velocity, so that would be the day after each of the two designated rest days (usually we rested on Tuesday and Saturday during the GGP and the Transition phase or pre-competition phase. G-d call them what you want).
On the Wednesday during that transit phase we always did a set something like 280, 220, 180, 160, 140, 120. Sometimes we’d drop one or two reps (maybe the 220 and 140). They were done with 10mins or so recoveries. This seemed to harden up the middle part of their 400m race, the middle 200m.
2:) AS above, pretty much. We maintained a strand or two of the GPP, such as 2(200+200) or 2(300+150) but the hills were taken out.
3:) YES, I would consider putting speed ahead of the so-called strength-and-endurance 2-1/2week block. But mostly the athletes would be coming into the GPP phase after a long period of competition and so their speed was present already. I never let the senior athletes take more than two weeks off. I found when they did, it would take six weeks to get them back to where they should have been and half the time available to build the base was lost, therefore the season would reflect accordingly.
So therefore I always went straight into the strength and endurance cycle, although as I wrote I never put any pressure of performance expectations on any athletes during the introductory six weeks cycle.
4( What do you call SPP? Is that like the transition period between general prep and competition??
How would a typical in-season 6 week block look like compared to GPP (apart from the removal of the hill sessions) and would this differ much to the final 6 weeks leading up to a Major Championship peak?
Are you saying that this is how your athletes would resume training after the short (2 week) break from competition?
I may be a bit dense but the 2 1/2 week schedule actually runs 6 weeks. What am I missing?
Earlier you said that the 5-6x200m sesions was ubiquitous, but I only see it twice in the above schedule. Does it come back in the next 4 week (transition) cycle?
As to speed development, obviously day 6 on weeks 4+5 is speed development. Earlier you had stated that there placed speed bounds and build-up type sprints (ins+outs) prior to the 5x200m session. Can i assume that this is the case only in transition?
Final point, in week 2 there is a 300+150 session on day 4 followed by 5x200 on day 5. It was my understanding that you wanted the the latter session to be done fresh.
Oh and yes, what I referred to as SPP (special prep. phase) is the same as your transition phase. Simply a semantic difference.
Sorry about all of the questions, but you methods are really making me think, whic hopefully is a good thing.
1. It is a GPP. But I may have given the impression there was a huge disparity between the first half (strength & endurance) and the second half (speed & power) of the GPP six-week cycle. Or perhaps my names for the work are suggestive of a greater difference. I think because it is a 400m and I have always aimed to prepare people to go four rounds, I’ve loaded up the GPP. There is, to my eyes and to the athletes who run this stuff, a discernable difference anyway between the two phases of 2-1/2wks which make up the five tough wks of my 6wk GPP. As I said somewhere before, you can be a fantastic 200m runner, but unless you’ve done specific 400m preparation, you’re going to run out of legs around 300m or a bit further, so the GPP I’ve outlined is to my way of thinking highly specific preparation for the 400m.
2. Not usually in the four-week transition (unless for some reason the athlete seemed badly lacking in that sort of endurance at the conclusion of the 2 X 6wk cycles of GPP.). I maintained a thread of the 5-or-6x200m (eg 2x200+200) but I usually gave the athlete the chance to get his/her legs back during the transition. Then there would be a race or two (relays or whatever) and then we would reassess their fitness status and design a new period of training. BUt once we were in-season, I tended to work in two-week cycles because these were easier to manoeuvre if elements showed up as deficient. Like if the athlete’s middle 200m was soft, or if s/he couldn’t keep turnover at a good rate during the last 80m of a 400m race. Or conversely if the first 200m was garbage. That would inform the next 2wk slice of training and so on.
3. Weks 4 & 5 are the speed-power block within the GPP cycle. Unless someone had a particular problem, I tended not to give ins-and-outs or speed bounds during GPP. The athletes had enough to do, especially in the first 2-1/2wk stage. Sometimes I’d introduce them during the second 2-1/2wk period, more often though during the second time around for the 6wk GPP block, which would lead routinely into that sort of stuff twice a week during the transition month and then pretty much for the rest of the season. But I didn’t do much bounding. Some athletes benefited but due to the relatively high volume (on some days) I tried to save the sprinters’ legs. We mostly did vertical skips to force triple extension and to develop lift co-ordination.
4. You are right. Mostly the repeat 200s were done fresh. Sometimes I switched if I was looking for some quality in the 300+150 session which is probably a set more specific to a 400m race.
I WOULD just add the rider that everything I have done could well be improved upon, that’s how we progress. If what I’ve done works as a template for your 400m program, beauty. If not, it doesn’t mean my stuff is rubbish. It just means it worked for the individuals for whom it was designed. It didn’t produce stunning breakthroughs for every individual because maybe I needed more time to figure out some guys than I had to give them (or they me). But it gave a well-rounded conditioning to whomever progressed through the cycles and season(s).
I don’t mind thoughtful questions. My only issue is finding time to answer. kk
Thanks once again KK. If I thought that your stuff was rubbish, I wouldn’t be asking so many questions .
I’m just trying to get your methodology clear in my mind. For an elite athlete I can very much understand it effectiveness. For a US collegiate athlete I think that adjustments would have to be made as the intensity would likely be to sudden.
So if I understand what you are saying here, this sample cycle would begin after 2 weeks of rest. It would be repeated twice (?), and then you would go into a transition phase that would last 4 weeks (?) and then into some low-level competion. Is that about right?
Would it be possible, when time allows of course, to post some samples of the Transition Phase?
That’s correct. 2 x ther 6wks I’ve outlined, which equals 12wks of GPP. Followed then by 4wks of transition. Then by the first competition of the new season.
I will post some day-by-day stuff when I get the chance. kk
Started with static and then ALWAYS finished with some ballistic (bouncing) type stretches.
But I should say there was VERY LITTLE stretching needed on race days because there was a lot done during the week and MASSAGE - as much as possible - and CHIROPRACTIC treatment BEFORE EVERY TIME TRIAL OR RACE - reduced the need to stretch. kk
I would like to see how the GPP progresses to the transition period. With the Commonwealth Games so early next year, I have to plan very carefully. When you have time KK? Thanks!
Have done the hills with my athletes today. Could complete 3 only - they were “dead”. This is the perfect solution to let them stay at home in the evenings - they are too tired to even THINK about going out!!
Transition usually lasts four weeks, never less. I monitor every rep, set and session in person to make sure fatigue (for the most part) didn’t wreck the run. If so, I would intervene and go for more rest or change the session or finish it.
Rightly or otherwise I did the same week of training four weeks in a row. That way it was like a little test each week leading into the first relays or low-key races of the new season.
I should add that due to the unacceptable risk of injury, I didn’t allow the (injury-prone) top male to race over 100m and rarely over 200m. All his comps were in 4x400 or 400m off the blocks. All sprints at shorter distances during the domestic season were set-up time trials where we could control all the variables. He would not become vulnerable because the raceday program was brought forward, or delayed or because he needed an extra 20mins to get loose and he only had 18mins (if you understand). I viewed my job as getting him to win medals in international 400m races. Not reach finals at 200m or quarter-finals at 100m or whatever. However you would love to have been at some of those time trials. Phew! So thrilling!
Our job was to enable him to be the last man standing. Therefore any sign of a risk to his health or fitness was eliminated whenever possible. I did whatever I could to control the performance environment. I may have erred on the side of caution, but he - like most of the other athletes I’ve worked beside - enjoyed quite successful seasons/careers largely unhampered by injuries (when training with me).
Transition:
Day 1:
Warm-Up,
Ins and Outs: 2 x 2 x ins-and-outs (buildup to around 40m, 100% effort for 12m-and eventually out to 20m, then fast-turnover but best relaxation to maintan velocity through a 20m exit zone. So the I&O looks like 40-20-20.
There should be good recoveries, maybe 8 to 10mins between reps. Then there should be 10-15mins between the two sets. Then full-ish recovery of say 15-20mins before the second element of the session, which is a sequence of Stand-Crouch, Fly runs from 30 to 60m.
(In Sequence: Standing, Crouching, Flying)
3 x 30m, 3 x 40m, 3 x 60m.; WarmDown.
…
Day2:
Warm-Up, (No ins-and-outs)
5 x 100m buildups on a bend.
4 x 150 (in this sequence: Tempo 1st 150m, diagonal jogback to start, Fast 2nd 150m, diagonal walkback to start, Tempo 3rd 150m, diagonal jogback to start, Fast 4th 150m. Ends session.
Weights
…
Day 3:
Active Rest : Sometimes Gymnastics 1hr of mostly propricoceptive routines, such as tumbles emerging into a vertical jump with 360 rotation around the vertical axis and land facing the same direction as you emerged from the tumble. There were many of these combinations, including horizontal rolls (performed with arms and legs outstretched, no use of arms permitted in initiating or maintaining movement).
Fullbody Deep-tissue MASSAGE permanent booking for this day.
…
Day 4:
Warmup,
2x2x Ins and Outs (As Day 1),
Then all flying:
300m, 250m, 180m, 150m, 120m. (Sometimes it was 260m, 180m, 160, 140, 120).
These were usually with partner(s), usually with about a 10-12mins recovery, but more if desired. The athletes at this stage of their season were told not to fight for something (speed) that isn’t there yet. Equally, giving them 10mins or 30min rest between reps didn’t really improve the speed of their reps, but the longer rest did pose a risk of the athlete getting cold or tight.
The sprints were about rhythm and position (triple extension).
Weights
…
Day 5:
Warm-up,
(no ins-and-outs)
Race Modelling: 4 x 100 (wherever most needed, but at this stage of the year it is usually down the backstraight and into the turn through the 200m start area, finishing at the waterjump).
2 x 200m + 200m
1st set:
1st 200m at intended 400m race split (mid-21sec for elite male, high 23 to low 24sec for elite female).
Two minutes recovery.
2nd 200m at 100% of whatever was left.
FULL RECOVERY b/sets (often up to 45 minutes)
2nd set:
1st 200m tempo in about 23sec elite male/ 26sec elite female;
Two minutes recovery.
2nd 200m at 100%, aim to negative split (ie: run the second 200m faster than the first 200m of this set).
…
Day 6:
Warm-Up,
Warm-Down
Weights (Usually upperbody and torso work only)
CHIROPRACTOR appointment: to check alignments and adjust if needed.
…
Day 7:
Race (4x400m relay usually, certainly nothing shorter and no individual races until week 4 of the transition block has been completed.
KK:
Thanks once again for explaining the details of your program. Want to take it the rest of the way and show us a competition model?
Also if there was no comp. scheduled, what might day 6 look like (during the transition phase)?
You had also mentioned in another thread that you would occasionally have athletes do 2x2x80m or similar after some ins+outs. Where would you site this sessions?
On a related note, the first four men at this past weekend’s US Nationals were either trained by Clyde Hart or by coaches who suscribe to his methodology.
What, if anything does this tell us?
I’m beginning to be of the opinion that male 400/400h athletes may be better suited to a long to short, intensive tempo based program, while females may work best off a short to long program.
Perhaps, or it could just mean the Baylor have the scholarships availible (and obviously the Coach) to recruit the best up and coming 400m men in the US and they could do equally as well or better using a different approach.
Maybe the only way to know for sure is to clone them in thier current physical state and give the clones (with not past memorys which might hamper them psycologically) to a different coach with a different philosophy and see who does better!!!
Remember that coach hart didn’t always get the best guys, they all went to UT until the mid-1980’s. He had one stud named Collins (if memory serves) who went to Baylor in the mid-1970’s, who peaked as a soph and then moved up to the 800m with mediocre results. What I am saying is that Coach hart has earned his way to working with the best.
In addition, Guthrie (coach of Andrew Rock) and Carson (who had been coaching Lashawn Merritt) copy Hart’s approach except they may do even less speed oriented work.
There is actually a LITTLE bit more fast stuff in the Baylor program in the last 15-20 years. Hence guys don’t appear to be plateauing the way they used to.
What do you call SPP? Is that like the transition period between general prep and competition??
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