Yes, we get that 250+150 workout every wednesday. I don’t understand why though, this seems more like winter workouts, and I’d understand if we had to run at near maximal effort with more rest between reps (for special endurance), but we get like 90 secs - 3 min…
We’re doing 60m - 80m (not full rest) work once per week or so, and even then I just feel like he’s training me to become a better 400m runner. Right now I want to focus on the 100 and 200.
He told me the lactate workouts 3x (250 - 90s rest - 150) with 12 min rest between sets are good for the last parts of a 100 and 200m run. Is that true ?
The 250+150 workouts are pure 400 metre work. Your results this year show a significant improvement in your 400, and no improvement in the 100. That should be a clear answer of what 250+150 workouts do- help the 400 and little else. Don’t get me wrong- they can be useful to the 100 and 200 in a non-specific sense for overall fitness and conditioning work. You get fit off those runs in a hurry! They will not improve your 100m or 200m time directly though, (unless you are in Mark Lewis-Francis shape and need to drop 30 pounds). This shouldn’t be hard to argue- as your 100/200 is the same as last year.
Charlie mentions repeatedly, “Speed is specific to itself.” You are not hitting anywhere near the same velocity in a 250 metre run that you will hit in the 100, thus it’s difficult to improve your 100 speed if you’re not actually running in that speed band (10m/sec+) very often. Check out “Key Concepts Elite Edition”, there is a ton of talk about this.
If you want to develop speed, you are going to have to spend time doing full recovery alactic speed work under 8 seconds in duration (60m-70m for you), and some full recovery speed endurance work as well. It sounds like you aren’t hitting those distances often enough, and with enough overall rest or freshness to make improvements. If the 100 and 200 are your races and you want to run faster and your coach won’t change the program, perhaps try to get a few extra races in, which will allow you to skip some lactate workouts hopefully.
I can tell you that during the winter when I started doing the KitKat 400m program detailed in the Lactate Threshold thread, there were lots of split runs similar to your 250+150 work, and no true speed work until after the first 12 week GPP. My 60m speed stayed exactly the same, but my 300 dropped almost two seconds in the first 12 weeks. Thus, you need to do alactic speed or you aren’t going to improve it.
Thus, if I want to improve my 60 next year, I would need to add in an acceleration / speed day once a week from the beginning, which I will certainly do next year.
20m Sled (35 lbs) sprint, turn back - rest like 30 seconds - 20m sprint with sled back to starting point. About 3 min. rest and a 60m full intensity without sled.
This 5x which is a total of 500m. Coach added 2x40 sled and a 120m full intensity on top of that, but I didn’t want to burn myself out so I said no. Which as usual led to a nervous discussion …
Times for the 60m: 7.02 - 6.75 - 6.80 - 6.75 - 6.91
Before the session I told him I didn’t like the 250+150 workouts as I feel they aren’t good for my 100m, and that if we were to do 250m/150m why don’t we do them at say sub or max intensity with way more rest in between.
He smiled then and told me I think too much, and that I should just do what he tells me to do. He said I’m surfing too much on the internet (probably because he sees how well informed I am)
Im really confused with this coach, they all say he knows what to do and that I should just listen to him. But here’s the catch, everyone in the group have been on the same level for about 3 years, their speed is not improving, their 300m and 400m have slightly improved though. What would you do in my situation? I’m pretty sure I could have improvements by following Charlies workouts (personalized ofcourse) but that’s asking for trouble in the track club
I should have about 5 races left this season. One peak 6 July before I go on holidays and one around 10 September (national junior championships)
I’ve got one important coming up next week and what he wants us to do this week is " 50% " intensity work: hurdles, blocks, etc… won’t this have a negative impact on my race ?
I watched the 10 days taper and they were still doing speed workouts, only at sub maximal effort.
I think taking it easy before a big race is a good idea, no matter what format that takes. Sounds like he’s cutting the intensity to keep you fresh, while keeping you moving enough to be sharp. You will run just fine. Be patient and trust your talent. With a few races before July you are bound to see improvement.
Remember the talk about relaxing during your 200? Watch this interview with Sanya Richards after her 22.09 PB yesterday. Sound familiar?
Yes, however I can’t seem to relax and let the speed come. Last meet I was trailing behind, coming off the turn I accelerated without tensing up and managed to pass 3 guys, I was the fastest on the straight.
I simply can’t imagine how I’d have run faster by not accelerating
The feeling will come with time and confidence. Just having the confidence to know you’re going to run fast allows you to let go of trying to “control” the outcome by “accelerating”- I am pretty sure you didn’t accelerate at all (unless you are running the 200 terribly unevenly), they just decelerated faster than you, which makes sense as you are a big strong guy. If you would have stayed within yourself and remained patient knowing you’d catch them anyway you might have run faster. Feeling lactate at 180m of a 200 is very familiar to me- it means I forced the race. Try letting them come back to you, just once!
You can increase your armstroke slightly, but wait for it to kick in- don’t hammer it, if that makes sense.
No explosiveness, bad execution, was really drained too and the times show. I’m not pushing out of the blocks, my feet just ‘fall’ on the track (if that makes sense) even though I try.
My times are A LOT better with a 3 point start. Really need to work on it…
Are medicine ball throws etc considered high intensity exercises? Can they be done on off days?
There are many different types of medball throws, both high intensity and low intensity. The medball workout download shows a low intensity throws circuit that can be done on a low intensity day. I actually just used it this week in place of tempo because my calves were too sore to do tempo, and it did a fantastic job of giving a full body flushing effect.
At the end of the same download, some explosive throws are shown which could be worked into a high intensity day. Some examples of more explosive throws would be overhead backward throw, squat throw, single hop squat throw, etc.
i’ll buy the medball workout but problem is I don’t know where I could possible do them, oh well i’ll find a place.
Saturday 16 June.
Meet
100m: 11.33 (-0.8) my best time of the run for the season and very close to my PB… adjusted is a 11.27. the coach recorded the race so i’ll be able to see what i did wrong etc.
200m: 22.33 (+0.3) new PB! ive never ran a turn like this. thanks to the advice on running the turn i found here: http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?8505-Running-the-turn
i was actually maybe 1 meter behind the guy who won the race in 21.40 at the end of the turn and then that’s where the distance kept getting bigger between us. however im still not relaxed on the straight…
40m left i started ‘seeing double’ like feeling a bit dizzy, very odd sensation but im so pleased with the new personal best !
We have a new Belgian record on the 400m and also an european season best: 44.56 for K. Borlee !
theres a blurr video of me on facebook, and i have no idea how to download it. also you can just see my last 40m, too bad but from the looks of it my arms still go too far back.
didn’t go hard enough on the backstretch and second turn, so i had to make up for the lost time on the final straight. i wasn’t as knocked out as 1 month ago when i ran 50.56, so im guessing i can do better.
@ hornblower: things are going well now but that’s because ive got a few races to run before i go on holidays. ive got a 100 and 300 coming up this thursday, but i’m not sure about the 300 though. isn’t that a bit much considered the 400 i ran yesterday? i want to be fresh on the 100/200 before i leave.
@ t-slow: unfortunately nobody got the race splits. i was certain i could break that 50s barrier, which i will with better execution. oh well that was my last 400m of the season, maybe one left end of september during a decathlon (yes for fun :P)
