I was talking with the UC SB coach Pete Dolan at a running camp a year or two ago, and he had all of his athletes doing the same kind of stretches. They’re the only kind of stretch I do during my workout, but I still use static stretches after my workouts.
12/15/05
Week-2 Thursday
Workout: 6 miles easy, stretches (AIS stretches)
Good run today, I felt pretty beat. It’s hard to run by yourself.
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Should I do squats, etc, even if my hammies are a bit sore? (Not REAL sore, but noticeable) I figure I am adapting to the movements and as long as I keep the weight VERY manageable it won’t be a problem. I don’t think I’m going to do good mornings, maybe some deadlifts.
12/16/05
Week-2 Friday
Workout: 7:00 jog, 3x12 squat, 3x12 lat pull down, 3x12 barbell flies (Stupid foo-ball playah’s movin hundreds of pounds on the bench…), 6x1:00 abs, 6x1:00 bridges, 6x1:00 abs, 6x:30 pushups, 9 miles easy, stretches
Good workout today, it was pretty non-stop from start till finish (3:20-5:40)Never done pushups after weights, before, I felt good, though. I ran with Ivan we talked a lot about nothing.
My Simplot Schedual is going to be intense! I’ve got 3 800’s on Friday and 3 on Sat. Each are 2:00’s apart! The endurance training and long workouts I’m doing are going to pay off big time when Im’ doing multi-events.
Also, I’ve got my program finished, I will post it in JPG form soon, thanks for all the input guys!
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Should I do squats, etc, even if my hammies are a bit sore? (Not REAL sore, but noticeable) I figure I am adapting to the movements and as long as I keep the weight VERY manageable it won’t be a problem. I don’t think I’m going to do good mornings, maybe some deadlifts.
Palmtag, I think it is OK to do squats with a little soreness as long as (like you mentioned) the weight isn’t too overwhelming and the number of total sets/reps are kept in check. Heavy squats should be done on fresh legs, of course. Now, with that being said, I would be very careful about doing deadlifts and squats on the same day, since they work much of the same musculature. Anyway, that’s been my experience.
For your current situation I would prefer squats vs. deadlifts.
I wouldn’t do both at the same session, as said above.
I would keep the load light, as you say, for adaptation, technique improvements -if needed, flexibility, etc…
You’ll know when it’s time to safely increase the weight!
Also, always try to keep in mind other apsects of your training and how the two could be best combined.
Hope it helps!
Thanks Heat and Nik! You guys helped a bunch. I went through with the lifts anyways (I figure the place for tight adductors is in the weightroom not on the track, like last year, and the place for a stomach cramps is on the floor, not on the XC track, like this last XC season)
12/17/05
Week-2 Saturday
Workout: I had to wake up early for DeMolay stuff, and I got back later than I expected. Not that big of a deal, I have time to run tommorrow (even if it is pouring cats and dogs)
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12/18/05
Week-2 Sunday
Workout: 50 mins easy (hilly 5-6.5 miles), 6x10pushups (easy), 6x:30 abs, stretches (AIS)
It was pouring cats and dogs! (That’s pretty sad I used the same metaphor to describe the weather two posts in a row without meaning to -Ed.) I’ve learned a few things 1) It doesn’t matter how DRY you stay it matters how WARM you stay. 2) Socks are like lightweight mittens, and you can whipe your snot on them. 3) Underwear is a must for wet weather, otherwise yer nuts get wet and freeze into little tiny ice-cubes… not that, that has ever happened to me 
4) Hot showers are amust after running the brink of hypothermia.
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Palmtag, yes, underwear is a good idea. I’m sorry you had to find out the hard way. 
Those warm showers are great for unthawing ice. I admire your bravery for getting out into the cold/wet. If it were me, I’d have just stayed in, poured a big drink, kicked back and watched the game on TV.
My coach said that I needed to add a couple 100’s and 200’s in there some stuff @800m goal and race pace during the last 4 weeks. Any suggestions?
EDITED: Updated the last 4 weeks.
Hmm, you seem to have a general trend of one speed session, and then 5 days of long aerobic work. Doesnt the 800 involve a lot of lactic tolerance (or whatever the hell the term is)? Do you think you have too much of an emphasis on longer aerobic work in this scheme? (I’m no expert in the training of an 800 runner, which is why I’m asking you)
As far as speed goes, I don’t really see how 6x30m is really gonna affect your speed greatly in a positive way in the grand scheme of things. Also, you look to be trying to combine two elements on the first day with short speed followed by a long run. Then after the long run, you go into the weight room. It just doesnt make sense to me. Why not ditch the long run on monday, and train a true higher volume speed session. Then, if you feel the need, have longer warm-up and cooldown jogs on that day, say 2-3 miles respectively, to sneak in more aerobic work.
In my humble opinion, this is what I would propose…and why
In the 800, I think speed reserve, not acceleration, is a key to success. As a result, you would want to be training your top speed, not acceleration. So on Monday, why not go with a true speed session focused around cone drills and sprints up to 60m. Also, to gear your training to a bit more speed work without sacrificing the distance component, on Wednesday and Friday, after warm-ups but before the long run do some low volume acceleration work (i.e. 2x20;3x30 or 6x20 or 5x30).
I notice you also like to use hills, and I’m assuming this is some kind of special endurance II or just to strengthen your legs more. Why not move all days with your hill focus to be on Wednesday, just as CF puts his SE days there as well.
I don’t know about the role of Tempo in an 800 program, so I won’t comment on that at all.
With all that being said, here would be a sample week (based on what your Week 3 would be)
Monday: Full WU (2 miles), 2x20m; 3x30m; 3x(20E/20F/20E); 3x(20F/20E/20F); Cool-Down (3 miles); Weights
Tuesday: 6 miles easy, core, stretches
Wednesday: Full WU, 6x20m, 5x800m hills, 3 easy, Weights
Thursday: 6 easy, core, stretches
Friday: Full WU, 4x30m, Core and Weights, 1:00 easy, stretches
Saturday: 5 easy, core, stretches
Sunday: Off
Depending on how far you can run in 1 hour, that would put your total mileage for the week (including warmups and cooldowns) at around 35-40 with substantially more speed work that would have a greater crossover to the 800. You could still reach volumes of up to 45-50 miles you already have set in your plan by adjusting the distances of the easy runs and the long run on Friday. You could follow the same basic setup throughout the whole deal and just adjust the volumes on each day as desired.
So, that was my feeble attempt at constructive criticism from a sprinter’s paradigm. Who knows if I’m right or not, and I could be totally off base here, but that’s for you to decide. Still though, I hope I helped somehow, and good luck with your training and your season.
mr. C- props… great + quality post.
palm- I think mr. C has a point. At willimas, 800m runners are considered part of our sprint group. They have more volume at longer distances when it comes to speed work. And while they do have some long runs, those definitely aren’t the base or the majority of the training. With this training scheme, we’ve got a whole slew of guys under 2 minutes… just something to consider.
I agree with Mister C… It is important to have a good speed reserve in the 800m. My senior year of HS my coach had me do a time trial in January for some reason; (he wanted to convert me to the 800)… But anyways, I ran a 2:06 without any real “over-over distance training”. I think my sprinting speed helped out, but it was my first ever 800 and man it hurt like hell. The last 200 was a son of a bitch. Haha. Otherwise, it looks solid and structured. Keep at it, stay healthy.
Well let me explain a bit. The first 3 weeks (week 3 is a rest week, as I did not post week0 which was pure endurance work and core work, with no agilites or weights) are focused on general endurance and strength, with very few hints of what is to come in the outdoor season. I suppose that if I am to include the speed sessions I should do so a bit more thurough, no?
The last four weeks are definately going to need some editing. I’ve got 2 schedualed all-comers meets (Where I will be running the 3200/1600 and 400 in two seperate meets) I need to plan those in. I also need to work in some intervals 150-300meters, if at least to prepare my legs for the outdoor season and my ONE indoor meet on Feb 16-18th (Simplot Games). After Feb 28th’ I’ve got a race (4x400/800) every week for at least 8 weeks, with a 3 week competition pause between league and sectionals.
At North Monterey, we usually have a separate camp for the 800m runners, where the coach can apply individual programs to the athletes with distance/sprint preferences. HaH! It didn’t quite work out that way. Anyway so this coach is quitting so he can help his kid with baseball. I’m prepping in this PARTICULAR manner so that I can train with the distance coach, who has consistantly produced more sub 2:00 half-milers than our old coach. And the distance coach works in a very lydiardian Long-Short approach where he relies on the races for speed at the begining of the season, and then piles on the lactic in the last half.
Also the reason I placed my speed workouts before my runs was because I was under the understanding that the two (long easy/sprint) did not compete for energy stores, if I worked them out in that particular order.
Okay, ready Mr.C?
Tempo from a cross country point of view is constant running at roughly a bit faster than 10k pace.
----As far as speed goes, I don’t really see how 6x30m is really gonna affect your speed greatly in a positive way in the grand scheme of things.----
Is the volume not high enough, or just not enough speed through-out the week?
----Then after the long run, you go into the weight room.----
Check again, on speed days I go in the weight room immediately after my sprints, THEN after I’ve done everything else I go for a nice relaxing run.
It just doesnt make sense to me. Why not ditch the long run on monday, and train a true higher volume speed session.
—Then, if you feel the need, have longer warm-up and cooldown jogs on that day, say 2-3 miles respectively, to sneak in more aerobic work.—
The only thing realy limiting me there are my time constraints. The weight room is open from 3:15-4:00 (football players). We get out of class at 3:10. And “Core Club” is from 3:30-4:30. So I rush out of class, dress quickly, jog for 10 minutes or so, do my agilities pop off a couple quick stretches, jog over to the weight room, pop off my four lifts, and jam over to the “Core Club” and THEN I go run for 35mins to an hour.
WrCortese… Our top 400 sprinter ran EXACTLY the same time in the 800 when we threw him in a relay leg of our 4x800 at Stanford.
OKAY! NOW! I’m DONE editing… It’s safe to reply!
Looking at Mister Cs programme :
Monday: Full WU (2 miles), 2x20m; 3x30m; 3x(20E/20F/20E); 3x(20F/20E/20F); Cool-Down (3 miles); Weights
Tuesday: 6 miles easy, core, stretches
Wednesday: Full WU, 6x20m, 5x800m hills, 3 easy, Weights
Thursday: 6 easy, core, stretches
Friday: Full WU, 4x30m, Core and Weights, 1:00 easy, stretches
Saturday: 5 easy, core, stretches
Sunday: Off
I think the above has more max speed work in than is required by an 800m runner. The mo/wed/fri efforts of 20-30m. And not enough endurance work.
I think your programme is pretty sound from a Lyddiard perspective.
If you were truly following him you would have a base running period, followed by hills and then speed work.
My suggestion to tweak your existing programme would be to do a short to long progression on a Wednesday.
Do some efforts at 800 race pace working up through the distances.
Week 1 6 X 150
Week 2 5 X 200
Week 3 4 X 250
Week 4 4 X 300 - you get my drift.
All at 800 pace.
Keep the Monday max speed session.
And keep the rest of the runs at steady aerobic level.
I think you do x-country, so you will get some really hard sustained efforts from them.
Good luck.
Thanks oldbloke. I was looking for help on my interval progression, I was wondering, though. Wouldn’t it be better to increase the overall volume of those workouts?
12/19/05
Week-3 Monday
Workout: 6min W/U, agilities, 2x30 slight decline, 2x30 slight incline 2x30 slight decline, 6 min jog, 3x12 flies, 3x12 row, 3x15 deep squats, 6x1:00 abs, 6x1:00 bridges, 6x1:00 abs, 6x:30 pushups, 6 miles easy, shower, stretches, eat, cry…
Tought workout. I started at 10:00AM and finished at 12:50. I feel pretty drained I did not have access to olympic bars today, (only 25-30lb barbells my stepdad’s got lying around) so i had to do all of my lifts accordingly. the odd thing is, I’m not allowed in the garage. My mom kind of asked my slyly a while ago what I would need to do strength training at her house, so I told her. And now I’m not allowed in the garage… Let’s only hope 
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Palmtag, I think what oldbloke suggests is very good. My only real point about the speed work is that on Monday the total volume (180m) is rather low, and the distance (30m) is only really conducive to acceleration. With what you’ve proposed, why not go 2x40 slight decline, 2x40 slight incline, 2x40 slight decline, 2x40 slight incline. That gets you 320m of speed work, a much more substantial number, and works a bit more into your max speed, which is more important to an 800 runner. Or cone drills on that day or whatever.
Well, I don’t know about you, but my PR in the 100m is just BARELY under 12… I don’t think I accel for even 30 meters =P, but really? I do a lot of different stuff when I do my speel 1/2 are flies, some are jog-ups some are straight standing starts, but all are in tennis shoes, so not TRUE speed work anyway 
Strides might be good, though, before my long run… Hmmm.
[QUOTE=Palmtag]Thanks oldbloke. I was looking for help on my interval progression, I was wondering, though. Wouldn’t it be better to increase the overall volume of those workouts?
Palmtag,
I have suggested a relatively low volume so you can concentrate on hitting your target 800 race pace.
Although you are a middle distance runner I think the concept of quality short to long speed endurance as seen in the CFTS is applicable. Relatively small volume at a good speed is the principle. As you get faster you increase the distance of the reps rather than the overall volume.
Once you get to say 3 X 500 at race pace that will feel like enough volume.
12/20/05
Week-Tuesday
Workout: 55 mins 7 miles (Hilly), 4x X-men (10 pushups, 25 situps–not crunches–, 10 body squats), stretches.
This running thing is pretty hard work. Mon-Wed-Fri I’m working myself to the limit, and tues-thur-sat, I have to run when I feel Like I’ve been run over by a light-duty truck. Most of the pain is from the weights and core stuff, though, which is about right. My new motto “better to get a stomach cramp doing crunches, and a sore hammy doing squats, than to get either on the track.”
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