By Tom Kaberna

Each year during our December clinic at Lake Park I get a coach that asks me how I would train distance athletes.  I have never trained them, but am intrigued to see if some power/speed techniques could work mixed in with their regular distance training based on what I have observed.  Here are just some thoughts I have about distance training, which may be way off base, but could be things to think about.  

I believe most of the best distance event times, whether it be the 800, 1600, or 3200, is predicated off of the kids with the best flying 20m time (within the distance they compete in and within their age level).  The 20m fly covers an athlete’s top speed.  If we could take FAT times of our athletes in the 20m fly (with a 30m buildup) at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, we could, over time, be able to chart what 20m fly speed an athlete needs to run in order to score at their conference meet in the 800, 1600, and 3200.  I think it could change the dynamic of how coaches coach. 

Many distance coaches put their slowest kids in the 2 mile.  I think this only makes those athletes slower in the long run because they are running at very slow speeds and dulling any speed they have. In contrast, perhaps the slowest kids should be put in the speed events like the 55, 200, and 400 to try to increase their speed up to the point of where they can help the team score in one of the three distance events according to the chart you made with the lowest 20m fly times they must have.  I would also work on speed with these slowest athletes first until they hit the 20m fly time necessary to score at your conference meet.  (When I talk about speed I am talking about absolute top end speed).  Mathematically speaking, when an athlete is running at 70% of their top end speed it should be much more comfortable than one running at 90% of their top end speed to hit the same time at any race distance.   

For those athletes that can’t hit the minimum 20m fly times from the chart, I would do a day of acceleration and a day of maximum velocity speed work.  An example of acceleration training would be 10x30m full blast and an example of maximum velocity would be 8 sets of flying 20m sprints with an acceleration zone of 30m to allow a buildup to maximum velocity.  This may delay some work capacity or vo2 max improvement, but it doesn’t matter how good that piece of the puzzle is if they don’t meet the minimum standards of the speed it takes to score for your team anyway.  The other four days of the week could be dedicated to improvements in vo2 max and work capacity.  In the two days that distance athletes would do their speed work they should also lift weights like a sprinter with plyometrics involved if possible.  The stronger their legs the more economical they can be on and off of the ground.  Things like distance runs on those same days confuse the central nervous system and it may lead to an adverse affect.   

There are always outliers in the mix but I am predicting the plan previously outlined will work for most of the athletes in any program.  Vo2 max capabilities obviously are going to be very important, but naturally the kids with the best vo2 max will already be in distance and the worst will be in the power speed events through natural selection. If you have kids that are already fast then those are the ones that need the endurance part more in their training regimen and may only do one day of speed training. 

One more thought:  I believe you need to teach athletes the best way to run biomechanically and that it should be the basis of the beginning of every year and revisited throughout the year.  This is especially true of distance athletes since they take more steps in their races than anyone else.  The better your athletes are biomechanically the faster they will be on and off of the ground.  

Like I said, maybe this wouldn’t work at all, but it is just a perspective from a power/speed side of thinking about things.