hi Scott,

Study Clyde Hart. His programs are available on the net and also look for the reasons behind why his program is as it is these days. Michael Johnson, as an athlete, created the reason behind the shift in his thinking and the result of his program taking the shape it does today. He is my favourite 400m coach for sure.

Principle-wise i see it as working like this.

Initial stage - endurance endurance
a. ability to work at a steady pace that raises your lactate threshold. The higher it is in terms of how intensely you run, the later the lactate starts to accumulate in your system
b. intermittent paced aerobic work ie fartlek simultaneous with
c. adding strength to aerobic development ie hills
d. circuit style body work

Secondary stage - strength endurance
a. hills and sometimes stairs
b. longer trackwork ie 500s/400s
c. base strength development with weights

Tertiary stage - speed endurance
a. trackwork of different types - 150s for CP development and 300s for lactate buffering development
b. short hills
c. max strengthwork with weights

Final Stage - speed and event specific endurance
a. acceleration - 30s 40s 60s
b. top speed - 120s 150s, ladders ie 400 300 200 100 or 150 140 130 120 110 100
c. specific endurance (top speed maintenance - 300s/40 second runs
d. racing

Throughout
- rhythm running for pure rhythm without fatigue, later with fatigue once rhythm is established
- technical running - can be done during the rhythm running to refine movement

summary
So develop pure endurance, then add strength to the endurance work, then speed to the endurance, then remove the general endurance and go for pure speed and specific endurance

rough timeframes
April rest
May-July stage 1
Aug-Oct stage 2
Nov-Dec stage 3
Jan-Mar stage 4

personally, for developing athletes, i like 15 weeks of 1, 12 weeks of 2, 9 weeks of 3 and 9-12 weeks of 4

hope this helps give a certain outline

Training has been the following:

31/10/09 Ran in the Blackwood marathon. I did the 12km leg - 47.41.
1/11/09 REST
2/11/09 REST
3/11/09 12x200m. 30sec rest. 200's @ 37.5 seconds.
4/11/09 5x40m
5/11/09 3x3x300m. (100 jog/ 5mins) 300s @ (50-51secs)
6/11/09 3x4x150 slow jog between reps. 8min between sets (18-20secs)
7/11/09 REST
8/11/09 40mins easy run, 2x2x1min jacob's ladder(stairs)/jog back.

53.24 last night. Much better, so I'm pleased with it but it would of been nice to run that 5 weeks ago..

Have you ran yet Matt (Bone)?

As a matter of fact I ran on saturday at Bansktown in NSW.

1 803 Lynch, Matt 23 Mingara Athl 46.61 1
2 1 Milburn, Joel 23 Asics Wests 46.78 1
3 16 Brandwood, Danny 27 Sydney Pacif 47.57 1
4 1972 Gurr, James 26 U.T.S. North 48.86 1
5 668 Roff, James 23 Randwick Bot 49.19 1
6 1945 Mitchell, Henry 23 U.T.S. North 49.76 1
7 2144 Bradcock, Mark 28 University o 49.78 1

Really stoked with how I ran. Lets hope it keeps gettin better

wow! nice run, milburn is definately a nice scalp. keep up the good work

scott, i think you should have a crack at an 800, i think you could do pretty well

Yea good run Matt , i seen that race, you did well to hold off Joel cause he was comin home strong ,

PS how bad was the headwind and the starter for the 100 terrible

I agree - with those km's behind you and 53 400m speed I think a sub 2mins is in you. Give it a crack, it's early in the season anyway.
49.5 by march for april nationals can definitely happen if you remain consistent.
How has your body been pulling up from your sessions?
Give us an update of your training as of late.
Are you hitting the gym at all?

oh yea the headwind down the backstraight and the final bend was intense. Wouldnt have minded if it rained a little so the wind might have stopped.

yea i was watching some of the 100s. seemed to hold them for a long time.

Matt what is your training like atm? What are you working on? How has your speed developed over the years? Are you enjoying your new event?
Comm Games 2010 the big aim?
Thank-you for being an active part of the RT forum.

Ive come from various backgrounds. did hurdles till i was 15 and LJ till i was 17 but injuries sidelined those events.

Considered myself a 100/200 runner till about july this year when i started doing some 400m work so i have come from a big speed background.

Still coming to terms with the way a 400m is run. Working on getting the race model down pat and trying to harden my self up as im still prone to vomiting after each 400 haha.

Comm games is a goal as moving up to the 400m opens up alot more opportunities for senior teams. I'm enjoying it alot and i have to thank everyone involved in the NSWIS 400 fast track squad cause they're the only reason im doing 400.