5 x 800 meters cutting down pace + 3 x 300 meters cutting down pace
Splits: 2:34, 2:31, 2:27, 2:24, 2:22, 41, 40, 38
Recovery: 2:30 between 800 meter reps; 5 min between 800 meter and 300 meter reps; 2 min between 300 meter reps.
Zach Braff, March, 2011
For one full year I had the opportunity to coach a middle distance legend at Dallas Baptist University; his name was Zach Braff and the team was his posse. To this day whenever I think of Zach Braff I can hear the team singing, “Zach-Braff-Fever…” in homage to the Ted Nugent classic, Cat Scratch Fever.
Braff transferred to DBU from the University of Iowa as a junior. His PR of 1:52.7 at the time would have been a school record in the 800 meters. After his one year running for us his PR and our school record would be 1:50.83.
The session above is a very long one for Braff, but a session that we built to since his arrival onto campus in August of 2010. When he was at Iowa he trained like a 400 meter runner and so having him run Cross Country in the fall for us and do much more volume in his workouts was definitely a new stimulus for him.
But, just like with everything he did, there was a smile and a great effort.
This session was not pretty. The assigned paces were to be 2:32, 2:28, 2:24, 2:20, 2:16 and then 42, 40, 38. However, he struggled with the 800 meter reps. But I still remember him during the last 300 meter rep floating through at 38 seconds. It was almost as if he were jogging.
Less than two weeks later he ran 1:50.83 at the Victor Lopez Classic at Rice University to earn a national #1 ranking in Division II and set a still standing school record. We cheered him on like he had just won the Olympic final.
Phillips Running 