Developing The 400-800m Athlete Cole Davis – Friends University

TESTING/EVALUATION (FINDING YOUR HORSES) We begin every fall training year with a testing week – (10-12 tests) – pick which ones you want to see results from! Don’t just test to test… 30 Fly, 150m, 300m, Broken 800m, STJ, SLJ, Vertical, Overhead MB Toss, Squat, Bench, Clean, Deadlift, Pullups, Pushups in 1 min, Situps in 1 min TEST EARLY – helps determine event groups/training groups Tests I would recommend for HS – 30m Fly(FAT), 150m, 300m, Broken 800m, STJ, MB Toss Hand Time is fine for everything except the 30m Fly/Accel – (speed trap, free-lap) HEIGHT DOESN’T MATTER! RECORD DATA, SAVE DATA, KEEP RECORD BOOKS! – Helps motivate!

TESTING/EVALUATION What do the times mean?? 30 Fly – Men – Sub 3.00 is a Sub 11.00 100m, Women – Sub 3.40 is Sub 12.50 150m – Men – Sub 16.00 is Sub 22.50, Women – Sub 18.50 is sub 26.00 300m – Men – Sub 37.00 is Sub 50.00, Women – Sub 43.00 is Sub 59.00 BROKEN 800m – 600m Run All Out – REST 30 SECONDS - 200m Run All Out Record Both times – Then add together for Broken 800m test results Male – 1:30 in the 600m, 27 seconds in the 200 = 1:57 Broken 800m Typically has shown us within 1-2 seconds of an athletes 800m potential at the point in training season.

CHARACTERISTICS – The “IT” Factor Al Carius – “DO THEY LOVE TO RUN?” Committed, Focused, Hard Worker, Competitive, Humble, Selfless You can’t Motivate them... You may think you can! You can help reinforce their goals! Build a plan, hold them accountable! INTRINSIC vs. EXTRINSIC GOALS Don’t GIVE goals – Ask what THEY WANT! Then build a plan around that… Push them to potential and then change goals as needed!

MOTIVATION… Must come from within! IF YOU ARE MOTIVATED – YOU CAN DO ANYTHING IF YOU AREN’T MOTIVATED – YOU CAN DO ANYTHING… AND IT WONT HELP!

ANAEROBIC/AEROBIC TRAINING Old - 90% Anaerobic, 10% Aerobic New - 60% Anaerobic, 40% Aerobic We MUST TRAIN ENDURANCE + SPEED + MIND!

QUALITY + QUANTITY (Pre, Mid, Post Season Training) PRE-SEASON – 60-75% Intensity on workout days with 2400-3200m volume MID-SEASON – 75-85% Intensity on workout days with 2000-2600m Volume POST SEASON – 80-90% Intensity on workout days with 1600-2400m Volume FIND TIME TO SPRINT DURING ALL 3 SESSIONS – 1 Day completely focused on <60m, +90% Intense Focus on Warmup Routines - ALL YEAR Hurdle Mobility/Hip Strength Routine 2X per Week – Pre & Mid Season, 1X in POST Incorporate 2 “on your own sessions” of 20-30 minute runs – (rhythm/breathing) NO SPIKES UNLESS INTENSITY IS OVER 80% - EVEN THEN, THEY ARE OPTIONAL BASED ON THE ATHLETE.

EXAMPLE Pre-Season Workout Week Monday – Light Workout Day (Tempo 200’s – Example 14x200m at 800 Goal Pace on 30-45 sec. rest) Tuesday – Mobility/Strides/Strength/Plyos (Hurdle Mobility, Bounding, 30m Accels, Speed Drills Wednesday – Hard Workout Day (700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200) – 2-3 minutes rest, 70-75% efforts) Thursday – Posture, Recovery, Pre-Meet (Mini Hurdle Posture Runs, Roll-Out, Yoga, Grass Strides) Friday – RACE DAY! (400, 800, 4x400) Saturday - OFF Sunday – Easy Run (20-30 Minutes)

EXAMPLE Mid-Season Workouts – 2000-2600 volume 12 x 200m Tempo 7 x 300m 5-6 x 400m 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 200 500, 6x300m (500 at 400m 90% pace, 3x300 at 75%, 3x300 at 85%) 4x600 Simulators (300, 45 sec rest, 300) Full Recovery Between Sets (7-10 minutes) 6x450 Simulators (300, 30 sec rest, 150) (5-7 minutes recovery) Increase intensity on 150’s each rep! You don’t have to re-invent the wheel! There are no magical workouts…. Find what works best for your athletes! Get Comfortable, Being UNCOMFORTABLE! That’s the 400-800! JUMP OFF THE CLIFF!!! Put your body into a state of DEBT… THEN START THE WORKOUT

EXAMPLE Post-Season Workouts – Regionals/State <2000m on Total Volume FOCUS IS ON SPEED, MECHANICS, RACE MODELING, INTENSITY WORKOUTS NEED TO FINISH WITH SPEED… never finish slow…if they are dead, workouts over! Don’t be afraid to shut things down – Quality over QUANTITY! 5x300m (75% -> 90%) on 6 minutes rest 10x200 Tempos (800 Goal Pace, 30 seconds rest – Halftime of 2 minutes at 5 if needed) 9x150m (Model first 150m of 400, GET OUT, relax after 80m) – jog back, 2 min rest – Do in groups of 3 at a time. – Evaluate each group before moving on to next group. 4x400m on 5 minutes rest at 80%, 2x fly150 at 90%

MENTAL STRENGTH/AWARENESS WORDS are 10X more powerful than THOUGHTS VIDEO YOUR ATHLETES RUNNING – SHOW THEM WHAT THEY DO WELL, WHAT NEEDS TO IMPROVE. (we try to do this 1 time a week) Pre-Meet Day? Get them in a quite place – Spend 5 minutes with them visualizing their race! QUIET PLACE, Lay Down) Weekly Goal Sheets – Day before the meet – Have them go over it with you prior to meet day! Know their goals! Create MEET Environment in PRACTICE! DEBREIF AFTER MEETS – Weekly goals don’t mean anything unless you talk about them before AND after! What needs to change? What went well? How can we grow? What can we learn?

COACHING CUES OUT.. IN.. GET YOUR KNEES UP! PUSH! (We want the athletes to push against the track HIGH GCF – “Ground Contact Force” RELAXED UPPER BODY/FACE Hands OPEN! Cheek to Cheek – Slightly Across The Chest DORSIFLEX – Toes Up EXTENSION of back Leg POSTURE – Tall, COG slightly in-front of hips FINISH! Practice, Race, EVERYTHING… FINISH!

RACE PLANNING/STRATEGIES 400m PUSH 90% - 120-150m RELAXED AND FAST – 150-250 – Find your RHYTHM MAKE MOVES! – 250-350 350-400 – RELAX, PUSH THROUGH FINISH 800m PUSH 90% - 200m – Find Rhythm and relax – hold to 400m 450-650m – MAKE MOVES – BIG ENERGY PUSH 650-800m – RELAX – Push to Finish

MEET STRATEGIES All 400-800 Athletes run on 4x400’s almost every meet. Great way to finish the meet with SPEED work for 800 crew and endurance work for the 200-400 crewLong to Short! 800m Athletes will start the season running Mile, 1500, 1000m, 800m. And finish the year running more 800, 600, 400, 4x400’s 400m Athletes will do the same – start with 800, 600, 4x400’s – Finish with 400, 200, 100’s later in the year Double/Triple in Early Season 1/2/4 2/4/4x4 4/8/4x4

4x400 & 4x800m 1st Leg – FIGHTER/GOOD OPEN RUNNER 2nd Leg – FASTEST LEG – OPEN UP/PASSER 3rd leg – WEAKEST LEG 4th Leg – WHO DO YOU TRUST?

RACE STRATEGIES VIDEO – Isaac Clark 800m Indoor Nationals - Prelims – 1:52.9

RACE STRATEGIES VIDEO – NATALI ENGLE Indoor Nationals – 400m – 56.1

INFORMATION Cole Davis – Head Track & Field Coach @ Friends University Office – 316-295-5620 Cell – 785-282-0830 Email – cole_davis@friends.edu