Phillips Running

Coaches, if you’ve gotten to this point in the series, then you are ready to get into the track season! And if all has gone well and you’ve been able to STICK TO YOUR GUNS, then your kids are going to be ready to run FAST this spring!

So, for our series this week, we are going to focus primarily on the 1600 meters and 3200 meters for this spring track season. And we are going to assume that you are trying to peak for the Regional Championships.

Typically that Regional Championship will fall into late April…so, when looking at the calendar, after our Winter Base, we’ve basically got three months to train until the Regional Championships.

I would spend the first month of the Spring Track season focusing on developing the next level of aerobic strength. I would encourage doing that by focusing on Cross Country paced reps, tempo runs, and hilly long runs.

The first month of the season would look something like this…

M. XC paced repeats (ex. 5 x 1000 meters at XC pace w/ equal rest)
T. Easy run + strides
W. Tempo run // Tempo workouts (ex. 3 miles tempo run) 
T. Easy run or x-training
F. Speed maintenance
S. Long run (can be run over hilly course)
S.  Easy run or x-training or rest

***On weeks that a race would be scheduled, then you would remove the speed maintenance and run the race instead of the long run. 

Over the last two months I would encourage alternating each week a 3200 meter specific session with a 1600 meter specific session instead of the XC paced repeats. And I would continue with the tempo run // tempo workouts. The mileage would slightly decrease, but nothing too drastic, maybe 1-2 miles per day.

So, what would that would like?

Sample 3200 meter focused week:
M. 2M w/up + 5 x 800 meters at 3200 meter pace w/ equal time rest + 2M c/down
T. Easy run + strides
W. 3 miles tempo run
T. Easy run or x-training
F. Speed maintenance or Pre-meet
S. Hilly long run (reduced mileage) or Race
S. Easy run or x-training or rest

Sample 1600 meter focused week:
M. 2M w/up + 2 x (5 x 300 meters) at mile pace w/ 1:30 and 4:00 recovery + 2M c/down
T. Easy run + strides
W. 3 x 1 mile tempo w/ 60 seconds rest.
T. Easy run or x-training
F. Speed maintenance or Pre-meet
S. Hilly long run (reduced mileage) or Race
S. Easy run or x-training or rest

Personally, I like the following run of 3200 / 1600 meter workouts over the ~8-week period.

Week 1:
5 x 800 meters at 3200 meter pace w/ equal time rest.

Week 2:
2 x (5 x 300 meters) at mile pace w/ 1:30 and 4:00 recovery.

Week 3:
6 x 600 meters at 3200 meter pace w/ equal time rest; 4 min rest after the last 600 meter repeat + 2 x 300 meters accelerating every 100 meters w/ 2 min rest.

Week 4:
2 x (400-600-400-200 meters) at mile pace w/ 1:30 and 4:00 recovery.

Week 5:
4 x 1000 meters at 3200 meter pace w/ equal time rest.

Week 6:
3 x 600 meters at 1600 meter pace w/ 4 min rest + 5 x 200 meters at 1600 meter pace w/ 30-45 seconds rest.

Week 7:
4 x (800 meters @ 3200 meter pace + 300 meters @ mile pace) w/ 2 minutes between the 800 meter and 300 meter reps and 4 minutes between the sets.

Week 8:
6 x 300 meters at 1600 meter pace w/ 2 min rest.

These workouts aren’t perfect, but I like the progression throughout the eight weeks.

Look, training is simple. Get your runners fit, mix in the proper specific work, at the right intensity (actual training paces), and gradually ease the volume down as you move into the championship season and you’ll run well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and the sample workout schedules. If you have questions, please ask. This was a very broad stroke on a very specific topic, but I’d love to keep the conversation going. You can email me at thedailyrun@gmail.com with any and all questions.