re: Track Coaches/Former Track Athletes- any advice?

quote:

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Is it better to run the 2s and 4s at 8 and 16 paces respectively? How much rest between reps?

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Generally,
800m-1600m race pace for 200 & 400m repeats.
2-3 mile race pace for 800 & 1600m repeats.

Rest for 200s and 400s: 2-3x repeat time
800s and 1600s: rest equal to repeat time or slightly less than repeat time

Check out Daniels Running Formula for more information on workouts and setting up a training plan. I would trust what the coach is doing though.

quote:

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That is fine for middle school XC training, but that is not a track season workout, in any way, especially for an 800/1600

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This is what I was thinking.

I have an 8th grade daughter than runs XC and track as well. This is her first year doing both, so we are kind of in the same boat.

Her XC coach is also the distance coach for track, but the workouts have varied greatly between the sports.

Her XC workout is similar to what you posted-
Monday - Long Run
Tuesdsay - Speed/Interval
Wednesday - Tempo
Thursday - Easy/Recovery Run
Friday - short shakeout/stretching
Saturday - Meet Day

She runs the 1600/3200 for track, and their practices are a lot more interval focused. She has run the 800 a few times, and it is her slowest event. She wants to improve, but she really loves the longer distances.

She has said that she enjoys XC more than track. Different scenery, not confined to a lane, the laps get boring, especially on the 3200. She has learned a lot this season just how to run on a track with other runners. Her times are pretty good, but honestly I'm looking at this year as a learning year, trying to keep her interested. This summer will start some weight training and see if she wants to get serious about it.

figured this was pretty applicable to this thread

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also yall should listen to the last 5-10 min of the Westside barbell podcast episode 7- the 5 phases of sprinting where louiee talks about how he trains his distance runners in terms of reducing ground contact times and strength endurance. and read the book secrets of underground running by barry ross. Many of you are down voting me because you fail to understand ground contact times and taking 0.01 off each ground contact in a 5k race removes ~20s from the time.

you cant just run all the time and think you will get faster. you will run into the speed barrier quickly.

Fantastic!

In other news, my kids’ track meet today was accompanied by a controlled burn a few blocks over. Needless to say, no PRs were had today.