So, I have been doing Triathlons for the past about 6 years. I’ve done Lots of sprints and many Ironmans but right now I’m I want to start running at the local open college track meets and I want to run anything from the 400m to the mile unattached. Specifically, the 800m and mile.
I am so used to running long distance, specifically marathons so in shape I can run around a 2:45-2:50 marathon. The past year I got out of shape. Even when I was training for the marathon it wasn’t anything special, I would just go out and run.
Right now I’m in halfway ok shape, I can run 10 miles just fine around 7-7:30 pace. What I am lacking however is speed. LOTS OF SPEED lol. The people I will contend with will be running for 800s around 1:55 and for the mile they will be around 4:20’s.
So my question is does anyone have a good set of workouts to do to bring my time down? I have the time and motivation I just don’t know specifically what can get my times to drop.
I want to drop them within a month if so possible, so if its having to do 2 a days I’m all for it. I can sprint well just not holding it for an 800 or a mile.
I’m also looking for people who have specifically ran the distance and what workouts you did to drop your time that much. I can go look all over google but you get a lot of the workouts from people who have never specifically ran or even coached people at that speed before. So if you specifically know how I can drop down to a 1:55 or a 4:20 mile within a month that would be awesome!
Right now I’m doing speed workouts on the treadmill so 10 miles with the first 5 being around 7 min per and then each mile after that I rotate each lap, one lap being 5 min pace and then next 7 min pace then next 5 min pace, doing that for the last of the 5 miles. Right now I’m doing around 60 miles a week hoping to bump that up with whatever is needed.
I’m also hoping to carry this training into the spring for triathlon training
EDIT: No, I’m not trying to hit 1:55 in a month, if i could that’d be awesome! I’m trying to get as close to these times as possible.
A 1:52 800m is much, much harder than a 4:20 mile. Just fyi. 10 miles of speedwork is not going to help you, and you’re not going nearly fast enough. 200’s and 400’s are going to be what you need to focus on. Try running a set of 8x200m with high rest but sub 30 sec for each interval. Or 4x400, also on high rest but shooting for sub 60 seconds each. Mile easy warm up, 20 minutes of dynamic drills, mile cool down after. Have fun, i loved track but wow it hurts
There are some guys who were previously great milers that post here who will probably chime in what they were doing workout wise in college. I can chime in a bit though I was never quite that fast (I was a 400/800 guy who ran 1:56 on 10-15 miles a week in high school (I was a big slacker - youth is wasted on the young)…only ever ran the 1600 once and I it was 4:36 in snowy conditions). But to start a few questions to help:
Do you have any background in track? (or background in something like soccer?)
What is your PR for the 800, 1600, 3200, and 5k and when/how long ago did you run those?
What’s your age?
Height and weight and general body composition?
Have you done any weight lifting in the past at all?
I think you need a reality check. Your sub 3 marathon times and 60mpw are laudable, but relatively useless for sprints. A 1:52 800m is very, very fast, like HS state meet podium time. I was in the low 50s for 400m and never achieved below 1:56. Here is what is an almost certainty, if you attempt to achieve your sprint goals in a month, you probably will be out for 12 to 16 weeks recovering from your injury. Get a coach and listen to him/her.
I gots the popcorn who brung the beer? Oh my, unless you are pretty young and were a speed merchant as a HS/college runner those are some pretty lofty goals. I too am more afraid of the 800 time than the mile. The closer you get to the pointy end of the field in an 800m the seconds come hard. Good luck with your goals and keep us posted as you progress.
Thanks for not critiquing things and saying its impossible lol. Guess I should have included more in the intro.
What ever you want to chime in with is great, I’m trying to get all angles on it. I know my body, and know its possible, I just want to try to obtain it ALOT quicker than most definitely would.
When you ask about background, I say yes, but at the college level, on what specific workouts are needed to run that fast of a time, then no. My high school time was around a 2:05. I was like you however, and I never ran many miles, never ran as hard as I should have etc. I went to a small school where the coaches didn’t care about you. I am 29 right now. Past years I have worked on mostly everything long distance, never really any speed. 800 would be around 2:05 and out of high school I’ve never really ran an open mile. Right now though I’d say i could do around probably 5:10-5:20. Mind you, my workouts in 2018 were very slim but i’d say i have a good base right now to work off of. an 800 right now would be 2:10, again I wouldn’t say I’m in 100% shape when i ran that. and a 5k right now would be around high 17’s. In shape I could run low 16’s. I’m 158 and 6ft tall strong calves/legs and arms are weak lol. No on the weight lifting.
Sure they are hefty goals. They don’t have to be met but I sure want to try and get as close as I can and I don’t think many people here are assuming that lol. It is what it is though, I just came here to see what people have done to get their own times to drop to that.
My 800 times didn’t even make it to the regional meet, but, if my coach had stuck around another year, I think I would have easily broken 2:00. That said, the workouts he gave us for speed all involved shorter distances. The two I remember:
repeat 200m. Fast as you can go.
ladders of 100m to 600m and back down again.
800m, 4x 400m, 2x 800m, 4x 400m, 1x 800m. All at about a 60s pace. Break in between was as long as it took for the girls to finish the same set.
All that said, 1:52 is not a trivial pace and would have been state level.
I was not meaning to offend you, but I have followed T&F pretty close for 30 years or so. I just checked and only 20 guys at the NCAA Division I T&F championships went under a 1:52 last year. That is freekin flying. The 4:20 mile seems pedestrian compared to that, and is a pretty good feat in itself.
No worries! I wasn’t meaning that towards you! The “reality check”. I just didn’t come here for a reality check. I’m well aware of what is needed to be done to obtain these things I just want to know how. That’s all, not listen to people like that lol. I also didn’t realize not putting that it doesn’t have to be 1:52 exactly, I’m just trying to get as low as I can in a month. If I hit 1:52, Awesome!!! haha. But even I know its unlikely, especially in a month, but i still want to try.
I was not meaning to offend you, but I have followed T&F pretty close for 30 years or so. I just checked and only 20 guys at the NCAA Division I T&F championships went under a 1:52 last year.
Out of 24?
Edit: I agree it’s legit. I topped out at 1:56. Just pointing out that it’s pretty pedestrian among the elite ranks of D1 track.
OK, that’s not too bad. You could still pull that off, age-wise. But as others have warned that kind of high-end middle distance track speed is a whole different world than 5K+ distances. It feels like all-out sprinting. Involves all kinds of neuromuscular leg speed and anaerobic power that just aren’t involved in triathlon at all, outside of maybe the high-end of elite ITU. It sounds like a fun goal, but just keep in mind that I think to do it you’d have to completely shelve all other running and go all-in. Those times cannot be done as a cross training or a hobby.
I just put 1:52 as something I wanted, I didn’t think it would get the backlash it has. I was just looking for workouts that people have done to obtain fast times, nothing more. I used to be a really good sprinter in high school and still am, I just cant hold it for long distances as the past few years I have done really nothing but long distances, so I need to work on it.
I coached a D1 runner turned ITU triathlete the past few years (and one year she still ran track) and twice a week our “quality” sessions included track session of 200-1k repeats and then a tempo day (descending mile-2k repeats). I think the tempo will be a much better workout for you at this time with your current fitness. I think if you start thinking about speed work too much, you then can easily get hurt. I’d shelve the idea of racing in open track meet if you are saying the times are that fast in your current fitness levels, cus you’ll get smoked. If you can handle that smoking, go for it, but if you think you should be near those times in a month’s worth of quality running, and thus rubbing shoulders and competing with them, I think you’ll be in for a very rude awakening. Thus I would suggest you skip events that have that type of run times needed.
I was going to say I’d bet $1k at his current level of running 2:10 (if that’s where he is at), he wouldn’t even get to 2:00 in a month. ETA: But going from a 2:10 to 2:00 in one month is hella good even in that. To run 4:00 min mile pace even for 800 for athletes who don’t have that speed ability, it’s really really really hard to do.
