The way of the "400" Thanks to KK

[mreoyn09]

@kitkat1

I think as a general rule, you design the program around the individual athlete. All athletes will continue to need to improve their speed over 100m etc, so you need to make sure this ongoing process is catered for - preferably on the day(s) which follow a rest day. Then on the day following your high-speed development session, you go for your endurance work which might take the form of tempo or a split run, with the opening rep employed to fatigue the athlete a little bit, then request the athlete to back up off a short recovery to deliver something demanding a greater effort (even if the speed is actually slower).

Regarding the volume in my GPP, just start by doing one set, or by doing more than one set but by slowing the reps to suit your athlete.

If your athlete has no background at all beyond 200m, I’d be very careful about introducing too much quality beyond 250m, but you could use some of the sessions like 3x4x150 and reduce that to, saying one set and see how she copes. Give her 20mins rest and see if she can go another set or half a set. Just take the template, cut it up and re-paste it in terms appropriate to the athlete.

Also, the athletes I’ve worked with have always achieved their career best results over 100m while with me (either on the clock in training or in actual championship results or national team selections). So I definitely keep a speed thread going pretty much from the outset.

KK-

I didn’t mean to discredit your advice in any way. I read through this thread, as well as the entire LT thread, and thought they were jam packed full of great information! However, just looking at your GPP/transition outlines and some of the proposed workouts I was certain that I would not be able to handle the routine as written, especially coming from a 60/100/200m focus. That’s why I was interested in hearing how others had coped with the program and what their successes were at full and/or modified volumes. I think you are absolutely right about adjusting things to the tolerance and needs of the individual and I plan on doing just that (with some extra speed work in the plan for a slow-poke like me )!