The Identification & Training of sub 2:10 800m Women
By Steve Bennett
B.Sc. (Physiology)
www.oztrack.com

800m runners need a balance of speed, strength & endurance. This makes it possible to identify a range of athletes that have sub 2:10 potential for the event.  What some athletes lack in speed they can make up for it with superior strength & endurance. The minimum 1500m ability that a sub 2:10 athlete needs is probably 4:48 but they would need to have sub 55.0s 400m ability. What some athletes lack in endurance they could make up for with superior speed & strength.  The minimum 400m ability an athlete would need to run sub 2:10 is probably 61.0s but they would need to make up for this with sub 4:20 1500m ability, this would usually only be evident in 1500/5000m specialists.

A typical sub 2:10 women whose best event is the 800m would usually have both 400m ability of sub 58.5 and 1500m ability of sub 4:36. This means in talent identification we are looking for athletes who can be developed to run 100m & 200m in sub 13.50s and sub 27.00s respectively. Certainly the more sprinting speed the better and this can be considerably improved over a career by smart use of weight training and plyometrics. The athletes also need to be able to steadily improve their 1500m ability. Potential in this area may be displayed by them being reasonably talented at cross country with many having run sub 12:00 min for 3000m as 11-13yr olds. Ideally what we are looking for are strong, nice moving athletes who show talent at both cross country and at sprinting.

Training for 800m involves a very enjoyable mixture of a great variety of activities. All female athletes benefit greatly from weight training and other more specific conditioning exercises. 800m athletes can vary the emphasis from lighter conditioning work that can target mid-torso stability all the way through to maximum strength training. Usually athletes do 2 sessions a week of weights for most of the year and sometimes up to 3.

800m athletes also need to develop high levels of “ease of speed” and a great way to do this is with a safe implementation of plyometrics notably alternate leg bounding.  The athletes in my squad perform activities such as 4 bounds and a jump into a sandpit from a standing start, or similar from a 10m running start, speed bounding from a 10m running start over 20m, bounding up hill on grass (up to 800m in a session), relaxed bounding over 60m (up to 300m in a session) and low (<40cm) quick double-legged hurdle bounces. We also combine bounding with relaxed practice at near 800m goal pace over 150m reps often in sessions such as 4 sets of 4 x 150m with enough rest to run nicely at near 24.0s to run 2:10.

Endurance for 800m athletes should be developed by building a great base in the first 3-4 months of the year. This can come about by performing sessions such as:

-          10-15 x 400m reps with 1min rests sub 76s

-          6000-8000m of long reps on grass e.g. 3-4 x 2000 rest 3min sub 7:20 , 4-5 x 1500 rest 3min, 6 x 1000m rest 3min or 2000, 1500, 1500 , 1000, 1000 with 3min rest

-          Hill repeats up to 3000m of reps with short rests. Usually using shorter hills.

-          Recovery runs 20-30min, moderate runs 30-40min and longer runs 40-75min

Hills are very valuable to 800m athletes as there is a great need for strength endurance.  A favorite session used by my squad is 3 sets of 5 x 80m grass hills with 60s rests between each. The athletes bound 20m then run 40m then bound 20m. They have 3 min recovery between sets then do about 16 reps of each of 4 basic exercises e.g. crunches, pushups, supermans & bridges. After the session is finished they often do 3 x 150m on the track with rests of 3-5min at close to 400m race pace staying as relaxed as possible.

Later in the year the athlete needs to develop the ability to relax at race pace and then merge their endurance capabilities into speed-endurance with sustained higher intensity longer reps. Longer hard reps are the most specific and effective training an 800m athlete can ever do. The key is to be able to do them with high quality even if this requires rests exceeding 10min. However the athlete is in awesome shape when they can perform an appropriate amount of work at high intensity using shorter rests of 3-8min. For 800m specific work the sessions should have a total volume in the range of 1600-2400m. Some sessions ideas are:

-          4 x 800m rest 5min sub 2:30

-          4 x 600m rest 5min sub 1:44

-          5 x 300m rest 5min sub 46s

-          8 x 200m rest 3min sub 30s

-          3 x 500m rest 8min sub 81s

-          6 x 400m rest 2min sub 69s

-          4 x 400m rest 6min sub 62s

-          300 - rest 45s - 300 rest 8min 300- rest 45s - 300  average sub 49s

-          800 – 400 – 800 – 400 rest 12min between

-          600 – 400 – 200 – 200  rest 12min between each

Pure speed development for 800m athletes can quite safely involve the use of 30m sprints from a standing start. To run sub 13.50 for 100m athletes would need to be able to run 30m timed from their first leg movement in 4.42s, the more typical 100m speed requirement of 12.90 would need 4.22s. Speed development is best to start with just 2-4 efforts over 30m at maximum speed and work from longer distances such as 150m run in 21s and progress in the pre-competition phase by slowly doing them faster and over shorter distances – finally progressing to activities such as performing a few flying start 100m reps in the mid 12s range. It is not worth the risk to do maximum effort 100m efforts from a standing start as the speeds reached are much higher than an athlete would ever need to run even in a 400m race. Sprinting at maximum effort for distances of 60-100m produces great stress to the athlete in maintaining good sprinting form and any loss of form can easily result in injuries to hamstrings etc. This is especially true in athletes that are doing a high % of slower work.

It is important that athletes make a consistent effort to optimize their recovery between sessions. It is very easy for soreness to carry over from one session to another and invite injury. The use of hot & cold treatment is very effective e.g. 3 min in a hot shower and then 10s in a cold bath repeated 3 times.  Also of great importance is sleep as this is when most improvement through adaptation occurs, aim for 9 hours a night & plan to wake up at the same time each day.

I have had a number of girls develop to sub 2:10 all have had sub 13.00s 100m ability and been capable of at least 4:37 at 1500m. The use of weight training, plyometrics and plenty of relaxed race tempo practice were major contributors to their performances. They also do a great variety of activities to target improvements in core stability including pilates, swiss ball, boxing and medicine ball throws.

A common problem with female athletes is low iron stores. Make sure nutrition is good and that iron stores (Ferritin) are kept safely above the normal range required. Many female athletes spend years with low iron stores and never see their true endurance potential.

Preparing for 800m is very enjoyable and I would invite any women to take up the challenge of preparing for an event which requires you to work with such a great variety of training modes. The shifting balance of activities throughout the year means that almost every month can be quite different. Athletes can take great pride in their steadily improving speed, strength and endurance from year to year.