Middle Distance: Principles of Training
Jesse Coy, Hill City High School Cross Country and Track and Field Coach
Training a middle distance runner can be the most difficult task a track and field coach can tackle. The energy demands for the event are mixed as are the type of athletes that competes in the event area. Successful training for an event such as the 800 meters requires the strength of a miler coupled with the speed of a 400 meter man. That being said, there are undeniable principles in training middle distance runners that lead to success. These principles can be applied to runners at any level, the only difference being the volume and intensity differences as related to the training and chronological age of the athlete.
Absolute Speed
In talking about track and field training of any kind, all things being equal, a runner with better foot-speed is going to win the race. For a middle distance runner, the principle of absolute speed training is a tricky concept in that you can easily get too much of a good thing. In other words, don’t drink too much of this Kool Aid.
A couple of things to remember about “speed” training is that you really don’t want to go over 600 meters of this type of training in a single session and you want recoveries to be long; long enough to be able to duplicate the velocity of the previous repetition. A typical speed session might look something like this:
5x40 meters at 90-95% sprint effort with 5-6 minutes recovery. Five repetitions of forty meters done once per week is an adequate speed stimulus for a middle distance runner to spend on speed training. This is enough training to actually help improve basic speed, yet not enough to interfere with the more important aerobic fitness and speed endurance the athlete will have to master.
Recovery after a speed workout like this will be 48 hours until your muscles are completely healed. You want to remember not to give your athletes these types of sessions in the days leading to a race, as true speed training will flatten the neuromuscular system, meaning the athlete will not be able to generate maximal power and speed.
In Hill City, we have used this type of training after easy runs, typically the day before an interval or repetition workout and we use short hills to sprint for less impact on the legs. We don’t use this workout on a typical “recovery day” since there is significant stress on the neuromuscular system; similar to that a heavy weightlifting routine would produce.
Many coaches believe they are giving their athletes a “speed” workout when they prescribe something such as 6x200 @ 400 meter pace. Yes, the athletes are running fast, but this is not a speed workout. Maximal velocity is reached within six seconds. Anything over about ten seconds in speed training is what is called “speed endurance” and actually has a lesser effect on true “speed” development.
Repetition Training
The purpose of repetition running is to improve the economy of middle distance runner. In essence, you are trying to turn a Hummer into a Honda and repetition training does just that. A typical repetition training session will include repetitions at mile race pace. Seems easy, but remember the purpose: improving the running economy of your athlete at a fast pace. You want to able to complete each repetition looking pretty darn good and practicing smooth, efficient running. Of course, this workout will start to hurt at some point, but the majority of the workout’s purpose stands as simply becoming more efficient at fast paces.
Of course there are variations of repetition running, using different training and/or racing intensities, however the concept of repetition running is a constant: improve running economy near race pace. The guidelines for repetition running are simple. Don’t go over 5% of your weekly mileage and recover 3-4 times the length of time it took to complete the repetition. A simply example for a high school boy running 50 miles per week would be the following repetition workout: 10x400m @ current mile race pace with 3 minutes recovery between each repetition. 10x400 is 4000 meters worth of running (5% of the weekly volume of 50 miles) and you would be running at current mile pace, whatever that would be. Recovery of 3 minutes should be adequate for the majority of runners.
In Hill City, we use repetitions in sets, with each set increasing in velocity, so that your last set is a little faster than mile pace. An example for the 50 mile per week runner above could be a workout like 3 sets of 3 400’s 3x(3x400) at 68, 66 and 64 second pace for a 4:24 miler. Rest between the intervals might be 200 meters of jogging. Rest between sets might be a full lap jog. I like increasing the effort using sets since this best simulates racing conditions, where you want to increase the tempo each quarter of the race. However, the principle remains the same: you want the athlete to become more efficient running at or near race pace.
A useful tool in creating race-like conditions within a repetition workout is the concept of “hammers”. Hammers are repetitions that are faster than the rest of the workout to simulate pace surges and accustom the athlete to stay fluid through discomfort. An example in the 10x400 workout would be inserting 2 or 3x150-200 meter “hammers” at 800 meter race pace at opportune times during the workout. Younger athletes may not be able to handle hammers at all, so make sure you know the capabilities of your athletes when introducing these types of stressors.
Interval Training (VO2 Max training)
Interval training, in the Jack Daniels’ sense, consists of bouts of exercise at an athlete’s VO2 max velocity. Velocity of VO2 max is the speed at which you are unable to deliver any more oxygen than what is already being rocketed through your bloodstream. Since oxygen is a limiting factor in all endurance events last longer than about 45 seconds, training at or near this physiological marker is very important.
You can really think of VO2 max as the velocity of the athlete if they were racing in an event lasting 11-14 minutes. For many high school athletes, simply use their 3200m or 5k times to find this intensity. In fact, we have found that interval workouts that start at 5k pace and move to 3200 pace as being the most athlete-friendly and effective. The length of time spent running these VO2 max Intervals will be 3-5 minutes and the rest between these intervals will remain a constant: you rest the amount of time spent running.
Interval workouts should max out at 8% of the weekly training volume. Our 50 mile-a-week high school boy could do a maximum of 4 miles of this type of work. An example workout for this boy would be 6x1000 meters starting at 5k pace and working down to 3200 pace. Rest between intervals could be a walk/jog and would be equal to the time spent running, but a standing rest could also suffice.
VO2 max training is the most physically taxing of all of the training stressors and should only be used for approximately a maximum of six weeks during a season. Typically, this type of training will constitute the primary workout during the tough middle-of-the-season training load.
Younger athletes might find it beneficial to just touch on VO2 max training and never even accomplish an entire VO2 max interval workout. More developed high school athletes can handle these types of workouts, however and besides their proven effectiveness, will add a certain mental toughness to the athlete.
Critical Velocity (10k pace)
Critical velocity (CV), which also corresponding with 10k race pace for 30-40 minutes 10k runners is a mixed zone that falls between an athlete’s VO2 max and Lactate Threshold (to be discussed in the next section).
Running at this (CV) pace directly influences the velocity an athlete can run at VO2 max as well as raising the lactate threshold in an endurance athlete. Critical velocity training is commonly used with longer interval training.
A rule of thumb is to take 90 seconds of rest for each 5 minutes spent running at CV pace. Therefore, if you are running 6x5 min @ CV (10k) pace, then you would prescribe 90 seconds of rest between each repetition. CV intervals are a great bridge between VO2 max intervals and lactate threshold work, which will be discussed next. In Hill City, we use CV work as the link between a VO2 phase and the Lactate Threshold phase.
In my experience, younger runners benefit well from Critical Velocity training in place of typical VO2 max training since the intensity is a little lighter. More so, the younger athlete can use this type of workout as a bridge that connects them to a legitimate VO2 max workout in the following weeks or even the following season for the younger high school runners.
Lactate Threshold Training
As an athlete runs faster and faster on a run, lactic acid is produced at a corresponding rate. Lactic acid is cleared within just seconds of being produced and normally, the body diffuses the lactic acid at a rate greater than the accumulation rate. However, when intensity increases there comes a point in which lactic acid is no longer cleared at the same rate it is produced. This is the level of blood lactate called, “Lactate Threshold”.
Think of Lactate Threshold levels as a faucet dripping water into a cup. The cup gradually fills and fills until just one more drop of water brings the level just over the top and the cup can no longer contain the water. One more drop of water and the cup overflows. The same thing happens in your blood when you have reached your “lactate threshold”. Typically, when blood-lactate levels reach 4.0 mm, you are at your lactate threshold; your cup has overflow-eth and you have reached your lactate threshold.
What are the training implications of running at or near lactate threshold? Well, quite frankly, they are tremendous.
By training to improve lactate threshold, athletes are able to run faster, for longer before lactic acid boils over and hydrogen ions slow muscle contractions and raise the acidity of your working muscles. When training to improve an athlete’s lactate threshold, you will use a pace that roughly corresponds to a one hour race pace. Obviously, you’re not going to know this off-hand, so I refer to Daniels’ Running Formula to cross reference recent racing marks to find the desirable lactate threshold velocity.
A lactate threshold run would typically last for 20 minutes at this “T” Pace, as Daniels’ names it. For younger athletes, your best bet is to break these runs into longer intervals called, “Cruise Intervals”. The 50 mile-a-week runner from above might be able to run 5 miles of Cruise Intervals. Rest between these intervals is short, with the athlete using about 60 seconds of rest for each 5 minutes of running completed. Regardless of pace, the correct recovery between cruise intervals is 60 seconds per 5 minutes of work. The ideal length of these intervals is 5-10 minutes as any more is tough mentally on the young athlete.
Although I listed some direct parameters for the training of lactate threshold, you can really use a variety of runs to improve lactate threshold.
Tempo runs, progression runs and steady state runs are extended runs at durations more than 20 minutes that will also increase lactate threshold. Velocity varies among these runs and again, I would refer to the research by Dr. Jack Daniels as to how to adjust pace for different lengths of tempo runs to achieve desired lactate threshold improvements.
Marathon-Pace Training
Marathon paced workouts are what I call, “getting after it” on a run. The link between easy running and threshold running, marathon pace runs are best used in base training as they provide a strong aerobic stimulus without taxing the runner too much.
Marathon-paced runs, or high level aerobic runs, are best used in base-building during the summer months because they can influence lactate threshold to a good extent and are also a good transition to quicker training in the fall. Marathon paced runs also add variety to the diet of easy summer running.
One caution is that you need to use these runs sparingly in the competitive season as they will take some of the gas out of your runners for when they need to be freshest: important workouts and obviously, the races.
Easy Running
Easy running is the basis of all of the training middle distance runners complete. Easy running contributes to the aerobic “base” of endurance athletes and quite frankly, is pretty enjoyable. Easy running is used as an aerobic stimulus, but also as recovery between intervals and between “hard days”. Easy runs are anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours+ and are to be done at a pace that doesn’t fatigue the athlete. Done properly, you should feel as though you could have gone a couple of more miles at the conclusion of your run.
At Hill City, I feel, we use easy runs as good as any school out there. We generally start very slow, even 9-10 minute pace for our very best male athletes and work into 7-8 minute pace (for our best boys) IF their condition that day warrants that pace.
Many times, for our best boys, the easy runs will never go faster than 8 minute per mile pace, other times they will start at 10 minutes per mile and finish below 6:10 or so minutes per mile.
Easy runs influence recovery as well as increase mitochondria and the size of capillary beds in the muscle fibers. Why is this important? Well, the mitochondria are the “power houses” of the muscle fibers…we can’t move without them and the capillaries are where oxygen-rich blood is exchanged and the magic of muscle movement is created.
Essentially, the physiological benefits we get from these runs are met at 8 minutes per mile, just as they are at 7 minutes per mile. The only difference is that you’re more tired the next day after running 7 minute pace. If that’s the only difference, I think it’s an easy choice
Modes of Recovery
The most important aspect of training is recovery.
Many people’s bubbles are burst when they hear that athletes don’t actually get better on the “hard” days. Adaptations and improvements in the physiology of a runner happen when intensity is light. Easy running, done correctly, is recovery. If there has ever been a secret to any successes we have had here in Hill City, it’s due to athletes running intelligently on their recovery days.
We actually have days called “regeneration days” where the athlete will run 60+ minutes, but at a deathly slow pace. The athlete is still spending valuable time on the ground, yet the pace assures minute levels of lactic acid build-up (a signal of significant anaerobic work). You don’t get medals in practice, so “winning” recovery/easy days is not encouraged or ever mentioned.
Ice baths, if taken after a hard workout, reduce the swelling of muscle fiber tears and are useful in recovery. It’s as simple as hopping in a creek, ice-filled bathtub or cold whirlpool for 10-15 minutes after your workout. Muscles cannot hear or repair when they are swollen, hence the ice bath’s benefit.
Post-run nutrition and hydration pays huge dividends for the middle distance runner. A post race snack with a 4-1 carbohydrate to protein ration will do the trick. Coincidentally, chocolate milk contains this ratio and also happens to taste like heaven.
Massage and light post-run stretching help muscles become more pliable and flexible as well as stimulate blood-flow and circulation in the runner’s working muscles.
Sleep, though neglected by thousands of athletes, is probably the best recovery mode we can use. Athletes truly need a solid 8-10 hours of sleep each night to not only regenerate, but repair micro-tears in the muscles.
Putting Together the Pieces
The previously listed workouts are all great ingredients to a successful season of middle distance training. However, just knowing which workouts to include in your season is half of the battle. Placing these workouts in the proper places in the season as well as controlling the volume and density (number of workouts in a given week, month, etc.) is quite a task and really depends on the individual athlete.
With high school athletes, I like to use just one primary workout per week, a moderate secondary workout and then a race each week. Races are used to work on specific racing tactics, or to complement training in a given cycle.
The following is an example of the basic training outline used by our middle distance/distance runners in the 2009 track and field season. This is just a basic approach, and obviously adjusted to fit the chroniogical and training age of the athlete(s).
Weeks 1-4
Mon- Easy Run (5-8 miles) + Hill Sprints (short, no lactate build-up)
Tues- Repetition Running (mile pace, 5% of weekly volume- start at 100m and gradually creep up to 400m reps)
Wed- Easy Run (5-8 miles)
Thu- Lactate Threshold Intervals or Run (light) (3-4 miles worth)
Fri- Regeneration Run (SLOW) 60 minutes
Sat- Easy Long Run- 9- 11 miles (Marathon Pace the last 1-3 miles)
Sun- OFF
Weeks 5-8
Mon- VO2 Max Interval s (600-1200’s @ 5k-3200 pace)
Tues- Easy Run 5-8 miles
Wed- Light Repetition workout (1600-800 pace, just 3% of weekly volume)
Thu- Easy Run (4 miles)
Fri- RACE (Race above and below GOAL RACE DISTANCE)
Sat- Easy Long Run- 8-10 miles
Sun- OFF
Weeks 9-12
Mon- Race Specific Repetition Workout (1600-400 pace mixed intervals)
Tues- Easy Run 5-8 miles
Wed- Light Threshold Run + hills for some fiber-types or a longer repetition/mixed type- it's just very individualized here
Thu- Easy Run (5-7 miles)
Fri- Easy Run 3 miles
Sat- RACE GOAL DISTANCES (just 1-2 races per meet…)
Sun- OFF
12 week season above is an example of how all aspects of successful middle distance training can be applied to a high school athlete. Of course, an ideal approach would be a longer season, but with athletes in our school participating in winter sports, this is simply not possible. Results need to be achieved within the 12 week period, but at the same time training needs to be kept moderate so that each year additions can be made to different aspects of training, thus continued improvement.
In reflection, there are many roads that lead to personal bests. In fact, it is impossible to say that the training you prescribed an athlete was the most optimal for the individual. All you can hope for is improvement from cycle to training cycle, week to week and year to year.
The principles of training discussed in the previous eight pages are undeniably successful. Athletes in every world record race have used these in some way, shape or form. The magic and art of coaching is to match the principles with the athlete and in the “just right” amounts.
When it is all said and done, it all boils down to the memorable quote by legendary New Zealand distance-running coach, Arthur Lydiard. Lydiard, who took scores of athletes from tiny New Zealand to World-Wide distance running fame, said simply:
“Champions are everywhere, all you have to do is train them properly.”
Bibliography
Running to the Top. Arthur Lydiard. Published by Myer and Myer Sport, 1995.
Road to the Top. Joe Vigil, PhD. Published by Creative Designs, 1995.
Take the Lead. Scott Simmons and Will Freeman. 2006.
Daniels’ Running Formula. Jack Daniels, PhD. Human Kinetics, 2005.
High Performance Training for Track and Field. Bill Bowerman and William Freeman. Coaches Choice, 2009.
Better Training for Distance Runners, 2nd Edition. David Martin, PhD and Peter Coe. Human Kinetics, 1997.
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