NO SPEED LIMITS
THE ABILITY TO RUN FAST AT THE END OF A MIDDLE-DISTANCE RACE IS A HANDY WEAPON TO HAVE, WRITES THE COACH DAVID LOWES
David Lowes is level-4 endurance coach, an England Athletics national coach mentor (Midlands) and former international runner
Fast gains: speed work should be specific to your event
WHAT does a middle-distance athlete need in their armoury to be successful?
An abridged list of attributes would include the following: strength (general and specific), speed endurance, strength endurance, suppleness, coordination, efficiency, a big aerobic engine, tactical know-how and a dogged determination. In a nutshell, if an athlete’s specific event is 1500m, they also need to have good capabilities over 800m and 3000m – giving them the confidence and knowledge that they have decent pace and endurance which can be used to full effect over the metric mile. And what about speed?
Ask any endurance group after a session of 16x400m if it was a good session and the answer will invariably be positive. Give the same group 4x400m at 100% effort with a long recovery and the response will inevitably be much different (if they can manage to speak at all). Both sessions have their place in the training plan, but you can hopefully see where I’m going.