jc_30
In memoriam
What are some ideas for some good track and field workouts for sprinters and mid-distance runners? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
track and field workouts?
- Thread starter jc_30
- Start date
This may be completely contrary to what most coaches subscribe to, but this always worked for us when I ran and this has always worked for me as I started my coaching career.
For mid distance runners we workout almost completely on the track. This may cause some problems with shin splints for some runners so we will also do a lot of our work on the grass.
Mondays will be 200's. Start the season with doing 3-4 sets of 4 200's @ 30-32 secons. Rest is 30-45 seconds between 200's (we start around 40 and rest gets less and less as the season progresses) with full rest between sets (heart rate down under 130 is considered full rest).
Tuesdays will be 400's. I have several 400 workouts. You can be plain jane and do 400's @ race pace (we will train for 2:00 halfs so 60 seconds will be our goal repeat pace). When we do this we will do 6-8 repeats. Another good 400 workout is run 1 400 @ 80-85% of race pace (68-72 seconds), wait one minute, do another at same pace. 3-4 sets of this is more than enough. I have others if you want them just let me know.
Wednesdays will be our recovery day. Often this is a short run 2-4 miles but more often will be active recovery with maybe a fartlek run or even a pool workout. This is up to you. I hate running miles for running miles sake becasue it promotes slow twitch muscles growth and to me is counter productive.
Thursday will be our last tough day. Usually 300's or 600/200 combo's or a ladder workout. 300's will either be simple repeats (38-45 seconds with varying rest), or active recovery again (300 repeat, jog 100, another 300, repeat until run 4 repeats) x 3 sets. The 600/200 workout consists of running a 600 @ race pace (1:25-1:30), rest 30 seconds, sprint a 200. This mimics running the half and helps develop a kick. Our ladder workouts are pretty typical. 100, 200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200, 100. 2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2. Or maybe a 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3. Be creative.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. Like I said these worked for me. Obviously these are all mid-distance workouts. Tweak them for the milers. Increase number, decrease speed for the 2 milers. I'd love to hear everyone's take on all this. Good luck to all and looking forward to a great track season.
For mid distance runners we workout almost completely on the track. This may cause some problems with shin splints for some runners so we will also do a lot of our work on the grass.
Mondays will be 200's. Start the season with doing 3-4 sets of 4 200's @ 30-32 secons. Rest is 30-45 seconds between 200's (we start around 40 and rest gets less and less as the season progresses) with full rest between sets (heart rate down under 130 is considered full rest).
Tuesdays will be 400's. I have several 400 workouts. You can be plain jane and do 400's @ race pace (we will train for 2:00 halfs so 60 seconds will be our goal repeat pace). When we do this we will do 6-8 repeats. Another good 400 workout is run 1 400 @ 80-85% of race pace (68-72 seconds), wait one minute, do another at same pace. 3-4 sets of this is more than enough. I have others if you want them just let me know.
Wednesdays will be our recovery day. Often this is a short run 2-4 miles but more often will be active recovery with maybe a fartlek run or even a pool workout. This is up to you. I hate running miles for running miles sake becasue it promotes slow twitch muscles growth and to me is counter productive.
Thursday will be our last tough day. Usually 300's or 600/200 combo's or a ladder workout. 300's will either be simple repeats (38-45 seconds with varying rest), or active recovery again (300 repeat, jog 100, another 300, repeat until run 4 repeats) x 3 sets. The 600/200 workout consists of running a 600 @ race pace (1:25-1:30), rest 30 seconds, sprint a 200. This mimics running the half and helps develop a kick. Our ladder workouts are pretty typical. 100, 200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200, 100. 2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2. Or maybe a 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3. Be creative.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. Like I said these worked for me. Obviously these are all mid-distance workouts. Tweak them for the milers. Increase number, decrease speed for the 2 milers. I'd love to hear everyone's take on all this. Good luck to all and looking forward to a great track season.
Lorenzo Mean Sting
11-man fan
jc_30:
Here are some good ones...that i know will be very beneficial to your runners:
Of course, be sure before each workout that you have them stretch/plyos for at least 15 minutes
To build endurance-2 mile pace run-you can do with or without the time limit...see if they can make 2 miles in 30 minutes...if that is too easy...shorten the time limit...no walking at any point.
Other options: 2 miles worth of walking the curves, jogging straights or you can have them do the same except sprint the last straight toward the finish line
Sprint workout- 4 200s 6 100s after each sprint..have them jog until they are a quarter away from the mark where they started. For example...I just ran a 100 and I will be jogging til I reach the 200m mark and walk to the 100m mark and get ready to sprint again. Now you can do this with or without time limit as well...plus it will give the coach something to do besides just stand and watch.....200m mark goal is to make it in 28-30 sec....100m 14-15 sec
These workouts are best with groups of 3, 4, or 5...depending how many you have out for your program.
When I was in high school...our "heavy days" which were usually Mondays....we did 2 400m, 3 300m, 4 200m, 5 100m...they were tough but good workouts.
After each workout we have our "cool down" lap...which is just 1 walking lap....then we would do some quick basic stretches for about 5 minutes or so...and call it a day.
Note: The day before track meets...I'd like to just have the runners jog a mile or mile 1/2...call it a day....I want the runners to get their legs under them when it is time to compete.
I hope these ideas help you out and all those who see this looking for ideas. Good luck to all track teams this season.
Here are some good ones...that i know will be very beneficial to your runners:
Of course, be sure before each workout that you have them stretch/plyos for at least 15 minutes
To build endurance-2 mile pace run-you can do with or without the time limit...see if they can make 2 miles in 30 minutes...if that is too easy...shorten the time limit...no walking at any point.
Other options: 2 miles worth of walking the curves, jogging straights or you can have them do the same except sprint the last straight toward the finish line
Sprint workout- 4 200s 6 100s after each sprint..have them jog until they are a quarter away from the mark where they started. For example...I just ran a 100 and I will be jogging til I reach the 200m mark and walk to the 100m mark and get ready to sprint again. Now you can do this with or without time limit as well...plus it will give the coach something to do besides just stand and watch.....200m mark goal is to make it in 28-30 sec....100m 14-15 sec
These workouts are best with groups of 3, 4, or 5...depending how many you have out for your program.
When I was in high school...our "heavy days" which were usually Mondays....we did 2 400m, 3 300m, 4 200m, 5 100m...they were tough but good workouts.
After each workout we have our "cool down" lap...which is just 1 walking lap....then we would do some quick basic stretches for about 5 minutes or so...and call it a day.
Note: The day before track meets...I'd like to just have the runners jog a mile or mile 1/2...call it a day....I want the runners to get their legs under them when it is time to compete.
I hope these ideas help you out and all those who see this looking for ideas. Good luck to all track teams this season.
jc_30
In memoriam
Thank you so much guys for your responses. These will all help tremendously.
biggernbetter
11-man fan
With the kids being in a small school and participating in all the sports and going through off season workouts in the weightroom, I think you can over run them in the track workout and tear there bodies down. Everytime we are in the weightroom all year we end the day with a 400 for time. This starts in August and goes all the way to the end of school. Track is a long season and you want your athletes to peak in mid April and early May. Train all your sprinters for the 400. If you can run the 400 then you can run anything up to the 800. The 800 has turned into a sprint. Some things that have worked for us is what we call 31's. Start at starting line and run a 300, stop and rest for 15 seconds and then sprint the last 100 as fast as you can. Based on what time you want your athlete to run, have them hit the 100, 200 and 300 at certain times. Then have them run the last 100 at a certain time. For 800 kids we run a 400 for a certain time, walk the curve at a brisk walk, come straight back across and run another one for the same time. As the season goes we drop the times on both of these. We will also mix in days where we run 200's at max effort. We feel that with working on block starts, going over hurdles and working on handoffs our kids get a good workout and it does not require us to be out there for 2 hours. You can also run your guys against relays(JH or HS) to give them race day competition at practice. We think the trick to improving times is requiring your kids to put out maximum effort every rep in practice.
Coach Steele,
I agree 100% that you can easily burn out a kid in track, especially one that participates in everything. I will do no more than 2 "hard workouts" a week. Usually just one. Anytime I can integrate competition (ultimate frisbee, tag games, etc) I will because the kids do a ton more work there than they think. It works great. Also breaks up much of the monotony of track. Especially here in a school with very little athletic tradition we will do all we can to keep numbers and keep athletics fun and exciting for the kids.
I agree 100% that you can easily burn out a kid in track, especially one that participates in everything. I will do no more than 2 "hard workouts" a week. Usually just one. Anytime I can integrate competition (ultimate frisbee, tag games, etc) I will because the kids do a ton more work there than they think. It works great. Also breaks up much of the monotony of track. Especially here in a school with very little athletic tradition we will do all we can to keep numbers and keep athletics fun and exciting for the kids.
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