I haven’t listened to the interview yet but it sounds very much like the Bud Winter program for Lee Evans.
If it was me running after a cross country run they’d probably be slow, dirt slow. But I would imagine LaShawn can bang them out at a reasonable pace.
Actually, this is the old Bud Winter 400 program for fall/winter:
October:
Mo -2 x 440 y, stretching
Tu - 4 x 220 y , lifting
We - 880 y easy with fast last 20 m
Th - 15 min. jog with acceleration after each 2 min. of run
Fr - 3 x 330 y with long strides
Sa - 2 x 880 y easy with 20 min. rest
Su - RestNovember:
Mo - Rolling starts, 2 x 330 y, rolling starts, lifting
Tu - Rolling starts, starts, 2 x 220 y, lifting
We - Rolling starts, starts, 2 x 330 y, 2 x 352 y, short sprints, lifting
Th - Rolling starts, starts, relays
Fr - 15 min jog on the grass
Sa - 75 y trial, 180 y trial, 6 x 110 y relay
Su - RestDecember:
Mo -Rolling starts, 5-10 starts, 330 y, 1 lap of short sprints
Tu -Rolling starts, 6 x 50 y starts, 5 x 220 y, 2 laps of long sprints
We -2 x 60 y trial, 2 x 330 y, 2 x 352 y
Th -Rolling starts, 6 starts to the tape, game, 3 x 110 y relay
Fr -easy on the grass
Sa -75 y trial, 180 y trial
Su -Rest
Doesn’t look like what’s being discussed here.
Here’s what I have, the claim is it’s Winter’s “long sprinter” program, what he had Lee Evans doing:
Fall:
Work up to 10 mile run in 4 weeks.
Pre-Season:
-M - 3x 600m
-T - Ladder: 1-2-3-5-3-2-1
-W - 10x100m
-Th - 3x320m
-F - starts/finishes, finishes are 6×200m
-SA - Testing 2x 60, 2x 320m
In-Season:
-M - 2x 600m or 2x 500m
-T - 500-300-200-100 or 5x 200m
-W -Time Trial 2x 60, 1x 165, 2x 320m, hard but not all out
-TH - starts/finishes
-F - Rest
-S - MEET
Winter or not, whatever this is has similar elements to what Dwayne Miller describes in the interview.
Here’s the program in writing:
It is my understanding that this presentation is an honest representation of Merritt’s training program.
Stikki, this is Winter’s sprint program for an “endurance” type athlete, a la Lee Evans, Tommie Smith was trained on a different type of program, more speed based, Winter revised his program in 1973. You’re correct about similarities between the above and Merritt’s program. Everyone borrows from everyone, Smith borrowed from Charlie, Carson from Hart, Hart from Winter and on and on.
Thanks for the link!
I have a few questions though.
Lots of off days in the programme. The title says “From prep to pro”, so for whom is it written, high school, college?
And what are drill outs? I suppose nothing too intensive.
Thanks in advance.
That looks kinda like what he’s talking about. However Miller speaks of two-a-days (5 hours per day total) to keep Merritt out of trouble. How do you fill 5 hours with a couple 600m reps or a couple mile runs? Is this where you use the 90min warmups…to keep kids out of trouble?
Guys, I couldn’t tell you as I wasn’t at the presentation. I’ve spoken VERY briefly someone who has spoken to Miller. He said that this “basically” it. The pdf isn’t the final answer, it simply gives us more details.
the details lex…the devil is always in the details
I cannot open the document…its just me?
It’s a pretty good interview. And out of Dwayne Miller’s mouth he said he dons the hat of track coach, nutritionist and “weight coach.” Also, the last part of the interview was a eye opener, but we can’t talk about that stuff on here…lol
The point is you need to speed to run a good 400. That’s proven and in general elite athletes double up your 200 meter time and add 3.5 second to that time. So for LaShawn if 20 sec is his best, he has the potential to run 43.5 (in his case he has). So unless running 1 hr long runs is going to improve your speed, it does not really matter. So if you have an athlete running 23 seconds the best you can hope for is 49.5 second. There might be some exception to this rule, but it works well for 99% of the athletes. So stop wasting time running 1 hr runs, if that was the case Haile Gebrselassie should be running 42 seconds.
The program seems to work well for Merritt, Rocket, there is more than one way to skin a cat, they don’t do 1 hour runs all year, As Dwayne Miller explained, that is in their prep period, as the phases go on the rep distances get shorter and faster, they do hills and look at the Champ Phase, it’s all speed and are ready for it at that point. Miller found less injuries that way, no one is saying it’s the best program, but much of it is taken from Hart and I believe Bud Winter as well.
what are drill outs ???
Merritt has had minimal overall improvement since leaving ECU (ie what he would have run if he stuck out even 1 full season indoors and out @ ECU). If he would have stayed there, he would be going much faster than he is now. He had so much improvement running there off of just a fall and partial winter and then spent a bunch of time muddling around and didn’t have any improvement this past year.
2009: World Champs gold medalist (44.06WL), 1st at USA Outdoors (44.50)…1st at Baie Mahault (44.50)…1st at Reebok Grand Prix (44.75)…1st in 300m at Nike Prefontaine Classic (31.30)
2008: Olympic Games gold medalist (43.75, WL & PR)…Olympic Trials champion (44.001st at World Athletics Final (44.50)…1st at Nike Prefontaine Classic (44.65)…1st at Berlin (44.03)…1st at Baie Mahault (44.34)…1st in 200m at Doha (20.08)…1st in Greensboro (19.80w)…ranked #1 in world by T&FN…bests of 43.75 & 20.08.
2007: World Outdoor 4x400m gold medalist (2:55.56)…World Outdoor 400m silver medalist (43.96PR)…USA Outdoor runner-up (44.06)…Tyson Invitational Indoor champion (45.51)…2nd at Reebok Grand Prix (45.09)…2nd at Nike Prefontaine Classic (45.17)…1st at Kingston (44.95)…1st at Paris (44.62)…1st at Rome (44.44)…1st at Monaco (44.38)…1st in 200m at Thessaloniki (20.02)…2nd at London (44.23)…ranked #2 in world, #2 U.S. by T&FN…bests of 43.96 and 19.98.
2006: USA Outdoor runner-up (44.50)…1st at World Cup (44.54)…3rd at World Athletics Final (44.14PR)…runner-up at USA Indoor Champs (46.17)…1st at Nike Prefontaine Classic (44.88)…4th at Rome (44.77)…5th at Lausanne (20.10)…2nd at Stockholm (20.25)…ranked #3 in world (#2 U.S.) by T&FN…best of 44.14.
2005: 4th at USA Outdoor Champs (44.73)…2nd in 400m at Nike Prefontaine Classic (45.57)…1st at Powered by Tyson Invitational (44.93i), the 3rd fastest indoor time in history…1st at Kingston, Jamaica (44.66PR)…ranked #10 in the world (#5 U.S. by T&FN)…best of 44.93i.
2004: 2004 World Junior 400m ( 45.25), 4x100m (38.66WJR) & (3:01.09WJR) gold medalist…USA Junior champion (200m-20.72), (400m-46.80)…ranked #9 in U.S. by T&FN…best of 45.25.
2003: Virginia State HS 100m (10.47), 200m (21.13) & 400m (47.69) champion…best of 47.69.
He ran 44.93i very early in '05 and then left his coach @ ECU. He struggled to replicate indoor times (notice his outdoor best is actually relatively slower and run just shortly after leaving his coach, running much slower overall throughout the rest of the season). From people I know that were running at ECU at the time, who have gone to the most recent Olympics and World Championships (ie people who saw the full training and knew what he could do in the right situation), said he was likely able to dip below 44 THAT season outdoors if he just stuck it through. The 44.93i was quite submax and very early. The ECU guys did little work under Coach Carson for indoors and basically no unloading for those early meets.
So as you can see from the results posted - He ran 10.47 in HS and was a world junior champion. So for a guy like that who already has the speed it does not matter if he does 1 hr runs or 1 min runs. The point is what are the pre-req’s to run a 400 in 44 seconds. One of the main requirement is the athlete has to run the 200 in between 20 - 20.3 seconds. And to run the 200 in 20.3 you would need to run the 100 in 10.2. So if you can accomplish that by doing slow long runs - though i dont think so. LaShawn or his coach does not have to worry about that. Coming out of HS he was already running 10.47. So my point again is it does not matter what LaShawn does because he has the natural speed and most of the kids don’t.
That is why Wariner is doomed as long as LaShawn stays motivated and healthy.