Monday

AM: Aerobic Conditioning (30m) + Total Body Conditioning

PM: Lactic Threshold (2 x 15m w/ 5m tempo rec)

Tuesday

AM: Rest

PM: VO2Max (on track) (intervals)

Wednesday

AM: Aerobic Conditioning (30m) + Total Body Conditioning

PM: Tempo Run (20m easy + 40m tempo) or Fartlek

Thursday

AM: Rest

PM: Alactic Conditioning (top end speed) + Anaerobic Conditioning (on track)

Friday

AM: Aerobic Conditioning (30m) + Total Body Conditioning

PM: Rest

Saturday

AM: Aerobic Conditioning (30m)

PM: Alactic Conditioning + circuits (intervals on hills or strength circuits)

Sunday

AM: Aerobic Conditioning (Long Run) (90m)

PM: Aerobic Conditioning (20m very easy)

Anaerobic Conditioning 186 - 196bpm 95-100% Max HR
Aerobic capacity 177 - 186bpm 90-95% Max HR
Tempo 157 - 177bpm 80-90% Max HR
Aerobic Conditioning 137 - 157bpm 70-80% Max HR

Total Body Conditioning:
Press-ups x 100
Extension press-ups x 15
Side support leg raising x 40
Sit ups x 60
Single leg squat x 10
Crab walking x 30secs
Hop x 10
Prone Bridge x 90secs

Judging by that set up, you are a 1500/5000+ type??

No need for the that much faster work. Especially at this time of year

You have faster/higher intensity stuff scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. I dont know anyboday elite or otherwise who would do that much faster/intense work.

You would be better of cutting down from 5 faster sessions to 2/3 and then lengthening each of your "aerobic conditioning" runs to 40/45.
As well as finding space for another 60min+ run.

Also whats the point of the 20min run on sunday? If you wanted another session for that day, you would be better off sitting on a bike for 30mins and reducing the impact.

i agree that the number of sessions should be cut down and the aerobic conditioning runs should be made longer. the cross training idea is quite good, particularly if you choose to do that many sessions in a week. i would recommend swimming as opposed to bike riding

this is an extremely good post 2 cents.

ideally there should be two longer runs for the week regardless of the event.

i'm not so sure that strength work should be carried out before a session earlier in the day. i wouldn't suggest being tired in the upper body and legs whilst doing the session, you want to be in optimum condition for the workout simply because first and foremost you are a runner. it is my belief that you should do these strength sessions whilst you are tired so you can work on technique in them and as a runner you are aiming to have a good turn of speed particularly when you are fatigued. not the other way around, you don't want to be tired before you begin.

is this a year round sort of model or a particular training phase?
could you elaborate on the track sessions?
what type of mileage would this training program aim to do?
how fast is the long run/HR for long run?

Yeah 1500 + 5000m would be right. I was thinking about cutting the wednesday tempo down to an easier pace and doing it for 75 minutes. The threshold run on monday isn't really too stressful either, I actually find it quite slow, so I wouldn't necessarily call it fast paced. I've tried to make it as similar to a Coe/Horwill 5 pace plan as possible, bike on Sunday sounds like a good idea, but I barely ever do anything on Sunday afternoon anyway cos work goes from 5-12 sunday night (yes extra pay).



Loving the reference to Vegeta o9v0e0r0. Ok so Monday flip the sessions around PM to AM. At this stage it is part of a block done in five week cycles - four weeks on one week easy, with different emphasis on different areas at different times of year - obviously not going to do as much longer stuff when trying to peak etc.

I would be aiming to run 75-85 k's a week give or take a few. Long Run would be at a heart rate of about 155-160 with it rising on the hills. I'd be aiming to try and get up to Ferny of a Sunday with Richard Huggins' group.

Okay, forgot to add in the sessions.

Tuesday: 5x800 (2:18) (3'), 4-5 x 1000m (3') (2'), 3-4 x 1200m (3.36) (3'), 4 x 1600m (5') (5'), 3-4 x 2000 (6.05-10) (5') or descending reps - 6 laps, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 lap then 2x200 72" laps, equal recovery.

Thursday, Seb Coe 200-100, 4 x 400 (64) (1'), 8 x 200 (29") (45") 6 x 300 (46") (1') etc etc. Pretty standard sort of stuff.

I have found I take to longer work much better than lactic sort of stuff, which is why I like to do it year round, and this is in keeping with my coaches philosophy.

haha thanks. i know exactly what you mean by responding better to the longer stuff. the session that i find most interesting is the 3-4 x 2000, im not exactly sure what you are trying to do with these could you please explain? i think you need to be doing some sort of specific hill work or some stuff with a change of pace and you need to have a day where you can substitute these different workouts based on which stage of the year it is, particularly because its a year round model. its a pretty tight program otherwise but like i said probably too many sessions, but give it a go and if you recover ok then keep it up. hope this helps

Yeah hills are on Saturday if we're not racing, should've specified that. Just VO2Max work really, prepping myself to be able to sit in a fastly paced race (Zatopek U20 3000 or interclub 1500's when the way better guys than me (coloe, clarke etc) have a real crack) Later on towards track season the Tuesday session will become longer lactic sort of stuff so like 600s or what not at a decent clip, maybe 1.34 or so. Thanks.

Just wondering, who are you?

Re: long run

155-160 Hr is too high for a long run.

Sure, at ferny it is likley to be a bit up and down on some of the climbs, but for most part i would be aiming at between 140-150bpm.
That way the body is working on a pure aerobic basis and not moving into the "grey area".

Personally im not sold on ferny as a long run spot. Varied terrain, scenery, hills, people, social aspect etc offers differentiation sure. However i find flatter surer trails better and more beneficail for long runs, especially if you are building towards higher milage. I also think ferny can at times, "zap" your legs for a few days afterwards.
Maybe keep ferny as a "once in while sorta thing"??
Lysterfield lake area is much better IMO.
To each there own.

Warning: This probably is not what you want to hear.

You are being far too specific and trying to cram far too many very specific and difficult sessions into a week. All these sessions are complex stimuli, you cannot view them in isolation, the effect they have is characterised by what your current strengths and weaknesses are, how they lie in the overall program and a million other fatcors that govern its context. It is not a matter of checking boxes to see that you have all bases covered, it simply does not work like that.

There is no such thing as the magic training week as you are trying to create, or the perfect mix of sessions. Your training needs to be focussed toward a goal and based on improving towards that goal, and adjustible depending on how you go. The prescription itself does not matter, it is the effect of the prescription that matters. Stop worrying about details and focus on the basics, at your level everything needs to improve and obsessing over specifics will not help. Many different sessions will help you improve to an equal extent, concentrate on going hard and progressing and stop worrying and analysing.

Don't worry about what Seb Coe or anyone else did to improve, you are not anyone else and you need to focus on what you need to do to get better.

I would strongly advise against formulating your own programs particularly if you're prone to getting caught up in details and theorising. Leave that to your coach, he is objective and you are not when it comes to your own program. There is very very few athletes at the elite level who are self-coached, and those that are have a lot of experience at the elite level and didn't get there by themselves. If you are anything like I was a few years ago, you will completely ignore my advice but I would suggest you heed it as you will perform far better, both short and long term, once you recognise that philosophising over your own training program is fruitless and counterproductive.

It definitely isn't something I plan on following, more just a theoretical model I was planning on showing him. Before I did, I was interested to see what other people's thoughts were to see what I was doing wrong and on the comparative balances of the paces. I know there are many more people who know much more than I like to think I know which is why I posted it. Thank you.

To the other bloke above, more often than not, my runs are done along the Yarra from Gipps St in Abbotsford to Northcote Yacht Club and back along Capital City Trail. With the lack of hills compared to ferny you're right about the heart rate being lower. Only thing with ferny is I find the heart rate shoots up to 180 or so on some of the bigger hills, especially when you're in a group.

I don't think there is an issue with a kid wondering and researching for his own. It simply shows that he has brains.

You only get one shot at this life, and you stand to lose a lot if your coach doesn't know his/her stuff. So he is surely within his rights to investigate.

You do need to have 100% belief in your coach to make anything work however, so if the doubts continue you need to find a permanent solution that will put an end to your worrying and make you content

Just look at what guys like Collis, Mottram, Mona, Riseley and all the other leading guys do. They all train very very similar.