Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #78: Gill1918 Project Presents Vince Anderson “Making the Right Ask-400m Part 1” at the Illinois Top Times Speed Lab

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#78: Gill1918 Project Presents Vince Anderson “Making the Right Ask-400m Part 1” at the Illinois Top Times Speed Lab · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Hey Yank, pumped for this. Here we go.
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  Back in August, Randy Anderson of the Illinois Top Time Speed
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  Lad hosted A1 day track clinic featuring two of my favorite
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  people in the entire world, Boushek Snyder and Vince
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  Anderson. He was gracious enough to allow
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  us to record those presentations for right here on the Gil 1918
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  Project. So for the next six weeks, every
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  Wednesday and Thursday Part 1 and Part 2, we're going to give
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  you all those presentations from Boushek Snyder talking about
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  hamstrings to Vince Anderson talking about Hurdle.
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  Now, these were video in person type of presentation, so you're
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  going to miss a little bit of not seeing the actual
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  presentation. However, tons of value here with
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  Boo and Vince every single week for six weeks in a row,
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  Wednesday and Thursday, Part 1, Part 2, Vince Anderson, Booshex
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  Nader, make sure you're listening, make sure you're
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  sharing this. And again, shout out to coaches
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  like Randy Anderson, who is providing value in coaching
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  education to coaches around the country.
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  Thanks again, Randy, we appreciate you.
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  Enjoy today's episode. Welcome to the Gil 1918 Project,
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  a podcast series by coaches for coaches powered by Gil
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  Athletics. Think of this as the Ted Talks
• 1:06
  of track and field coaching. Short, insightful, and packed
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  ears daily. Interested in creating your own
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  episode? Everyone's welcome to
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  participate. Check out the show notes below
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  For more information. Now let's get into today's topic
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  Doing. So that my my 2 hippo sessions
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  might be one in the week and the meet itself.
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  All right now some other things that you have to be aware of
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  because the subtitle of the lecture is make the right ask
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  when you write training. You want to, you don't want to
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  ask too much of your athlete, you don't want to ask too
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  little, and you certainly don't want to be lost.
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  Like what? What do I ask at all?
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  There's a lot of in the community, a lot of vagueness
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  about how much ask of my 400 meter athlete when I wrote
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  programs, you know, I want to be very, very close to the right,
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  you know, don't want to be too fast, don't want to be too slow,
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  don't want to be just right. There's a little ballpark there.
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  So that's that's very, very critical how to make the right
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  ask. So make the right ask.
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  You have to know certain little facts and signposts, which we're
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  going to go over right now that underlay the decisions that
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  you're going to be making later as you script these workout
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  demands. So you have to know the 400
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  meter to 200 meter relationship. Your 400 athletes should be
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  running one hundreds. Your 400 meter athletes should
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  be running some 2 hundreds. That's good development.
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  It's good. It's good competitive variety.
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  And the faster he runs his one and two, you'll see a direct
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  correlation of improvement in his 400.
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  So, but many of us at least for scripting purposes when we're
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  starting out the year, don't know.
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  We might have some athletes who are new to us and we don't know
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  both of those variables. So if you know the 400 and you
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  want to project a fair ask 200 for your athletes, you have to
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  assume that the 200 is 45% of their 400 meter personal best.
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  So for for the sake of doing this today, I have demonstrated
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  through the whole thing through the whole thing.
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  This is a little bit of a tedious presentation.
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  Sorry, but I didn't know what how else to present it.
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  I, I modeled 2 athletes and I just happened to model a 62nd
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  quarter mileer. So in other words, if I had me,
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  if I had a 62nd quarter mileer, how I would handle their
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  training, how I would write their training, what I would
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  expect from them, how I would progress that training in terms
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  of demand and intensity throughout the, throughout the
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  1st 16 weeks of training, etcetera.
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  And also did the same for 52nd athlete.
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  So here's what I'm going to do today just to make the
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  presentation fit more comfortably in an academic hour.
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  I'm going to just talk about the 62nd quarter mile.
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  Now you as they say at home, if you want to do this like I, I
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  don't, I'm not interested in a 62nd quarter mile.
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  I'm kind of a guy who runs 52 five or I've got a guy who runs
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  49 flag. You can use that number as we go
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  through because all the percentages and things work the
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  same. So in quick review, if you know
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  the 400 and want to project a 200, assume the 200 is 45% of a
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  400. So for a 62nd athlete, I
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  multiply 60 * 45 any any 62nd athlete should be able to run 27
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  flat, period. I don't know, OK, maybe it's 26
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  a maybe it's 27 too. But like, if there's a huge
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  discrepancy in those numbers, you know there's a problem.
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  Like if you have an athlete to run 60 and their personal best
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  is 28, five, you're not doing enough acceleration development
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  and speed development. There's a problem.
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  So those numbers should reasonably match all the way
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  through. So there's a distinct
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  relationship between the 400 and the 200.
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  It's inescapable and serves as a baseline check for you, the
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  coach. Am I asking enough?
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  Am I asking too little? So you tell Susie you're 62nd
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  quarter model, Susie, you should be able to run 27 flat in the
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  200 with your personal best of 60 in the 400.
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  That's a fair ask. I talk like that all the time to
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  every athlete. OK the 200, the 400
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  relationship. If you know the 200 and want to
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  project a 400, assume the 400 is 2.223 times their 200 meter PB,
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  so 27 flat. The 62nd athlete times 2.223 =
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  60. Those numbers are inescapable.
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  They relate to each other. They're matched in history and
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  forever. You know, I heard one someone
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  once say you can't run, you can't break 50 unless you can
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  run faster than 20 to 5. Hell to the yes, I heard John
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  Walker once say you can't. He was first guy at the second
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  guy to break 350. He said you can't run 350 in the
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  mile unless you can run 144 for the 800.
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  And I heard that. And I was like, that has to be
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  right. And I checked some numbers and
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  sure enough it was. But these ideas, these
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  connections keep you straight as a coach.
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  And again, if there's imbalance, like if you had your 27 flat
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  athlete and they're splitting 62 five on the 4 by 4 relay, you've
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  got a huge problem. They're not putting your back
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  into it, or they're distributing the race wrong, which is also
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  another error. But something's wrong. 27 flat
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  person should be running 60 in the open, which means they
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  should be splitting 59 too. And you have to know these
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  things as a coach to make the fair ass.
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  And finally, like it or not, it's inescapable.
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  The correct distribution for the 1st 200 of a 400 meter is 47.2%
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  of the performance to 48% of the performance period.
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  We use 47.6 simply because it's in the dead middle of that
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  bandwidth. OK, I promise you if you run
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  46.8% of the performance in your 1st 200, you will not perform to
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  your capability because no one can outrun fatigue of that
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  level. You might get away with 48.2%,
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  but you start getting 48 point 448.6%.
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  You're really going out too slow.
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  So for a 62nd athlete, if I multiply 60 * .476, which is
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  express, you know, which is the digital expression of 47.6%,
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  they should run, they should come through their first 228
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  six, give or take 2/10. So the bandwidth would be 28
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  four to 28 eight. That's it.
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  They're coming through in 30, wrong.
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  They're coming through IN279, they're off It's wrong.
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  These numbers are absolute for global.
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  Samples like these will not lead you astray.
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  This is what good age group athletes do.
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  This is what good high school athletes do.
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  This is what world class athletes do.
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  There seems to be something physiological about what the
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  optimal distribution effort is for the 1st 200 of a four.
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  So another thing, I'm a stickler for every great coach I know.
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  Coaches with their eyes, primarily.
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  OK, so there's this idea related to the first thing I threw out.
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  You have to approach 400 meter training as an idea.
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  You have to have an idea about what you're trying to do, and it
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  shouldn't be a vague, generic idea.
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  It should be very, very specific to what you want done with that
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  particular athlete. So the notion that visually
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  training should look like the performance is crucial.
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  Athletes should express tall posture.
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  They should be stretched, stepping down from above and
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  avoiding long striding out tempo maintenance late in each and
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  every Rep in the practice. I don't want the reps in a
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  training session to degrade into a death March with terrible
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  posture, long reachy strides, and horrible nonspecific tempo.
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  If we train that way, we're doing something very wrong.
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  It's vague, and we're not making a specific ask to each athlete.
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  Athletes should know what they're trying to do fairly.
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  That is, you're making a fair ask.
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  You're not asking too much, you're not asking too little.
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  You're asking you're in the ballpark.
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  OK, So visually training should look like the performance.
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  Therefore this is what you do not want to do.
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  So for a 62nd athlete, I personally, I don't want to run
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  tempos equivalent to 66 seconds for the 468, seconds for the
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  470, seconds for the 472, seconds for the 400 and 74
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  seconds for the forearm. I do not want to run tempo's
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  equivalent to 33 for the 2003430536 and 37.
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  So if I'm training a 62nd athlete, there will never be a
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  day where we're running 37 second 200 ever.
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  We're not going to do that because a 37 second 200 does not
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  look like a 62nd quarter. They look completely different.
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  So we're not going to spend lots of time in that inappropriate,
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  unrelated area. So what 400 athletes need is not
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  vague development ideas or slow tempos.
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  They need speed development and they need in tempo sessions.
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  They need race specific intensities or there about 4:00.
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  100 meter athletes do not need volume without respect for
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  specificity. So I can run, you know, in the
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  example earlier for a 62nd athlete, I can run a zillion 37
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  second 200 and I'm kind of wasting my time.
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  That's needless, useless volume that isn't helping us produce a
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  fast 400 for that athlete. So any volume concerns that you
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  script and think about when you design should be related to
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  speed development and intensity needs.
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  Speed development on the days where we're not doing tempo and
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  on the tempo days, addressing proper intensities, ballpark
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  intensities, not vague generic intensities that have nothing to
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  do with the performance or produce runs that look nothing
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  like the performance you're hoping to get your athlete to.
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  So when doing tempo training early in the year all the way
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  through the late middle season, you have to keep the power
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  levels high, not keep the the power levels low.
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  High power levels require more rest.
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  Well, that's fine, no problem, I'll run faster, I should get
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  more rest. Those things relate when when
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  power levels fall to nonspecific levels, there is a minimal
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  training effect to a possible detraining effect.
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  If the power levels fall way low, so rest is important.
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  You got a balanced recovery with the effort.
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  So the faster I run and the longer I run that fast, the more
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  rest I require. So what do you mean high power
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  level? That's kind of vague.
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  OK, this is my way specifically to answer that and deal with
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  that as a coach. Now my specific definition, my
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  specific boundaries do not have to be yield, but you sure enough
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  do have to have minimum tempo stand.
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  In other words, a question every coach should ask.
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  Yet I don't hear many coaches asking themselves this question
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  at all. Every coach should ask what is
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  the slowest tempo I will script for my 400 athletes in the
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  entire training year. Well, I sure as hell have an
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  answer for that. It's mine, then that to be yours
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  because I know endurance must be specific to the performance.
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  The minimum tempo that I designed for any of our tempo
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  sessions is the 400 meter PR plus 4 seconds.
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  OK, this doesn't have to be yours, but it's mine.
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  This is what I do. Make sure I'm not asking too
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  much. I'm not asking too little, I'm
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  asking exactly right. So for a 62nd 400 meter athlete,
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  everything we run from the first day of practice onward are
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  tempos of 64 seconds flat and faster, not 64 seconds flat and
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  slower. OK, now So what that means, and
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  I'm talking about here an intensity, a tempo.
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  So I'm not talking about just running a 400.
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  If we run a 300, then if I script a 300, I'm never going to
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  run slower than 48. If we script a 200, I'm never
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  going to script slower than a 32.
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  And if we're running hundreds, we're never going to run slower
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  than 16. That's the slowest A6 I'm going
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  to ask a 62nd athlete to run ever.
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  And all of my scripts and all of my asks and all of my
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  intensities are going to be set above that minimum standard.
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  That's where we begin. Oh, here's another thing, and
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  that's ironclad. Now this is a personal, this is
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  a personal opinion I'm about to express.
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  It doesn't have to be yours, but I'm ironclad all the way
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  through. So I personally do not deploy 5
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  hundredths in my training for four 50s for that matter.
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  But there have been one or two exceptions to that in the last
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  dozen years. I remember once Ellis Francis
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  wanted me to, you know, wanted to run a 500 in practice and I
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  was pissed. You know, I told lady, young
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  lady, I'm, I'm not very happy with you, but you know, I work
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  for you. So we're going to do it.
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  But the point is there will be if you do, if you go by this
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  thinking and you set your own minimum standards and you're
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  always thinking about the fair ask and what reasonable tempos
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  are, you'll never run a 500 in the case of this 62nd athlete
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  unless they can come through the 464 because that's the slowest
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  we're going to run. Like we don't all of a sudden
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  say, OK, you're going to run a 500 and come through in 75.
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  No, that's not the way it works. The slowest we're going to run
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  is 64 second pace because that's 4 seconds slower than your PR
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  and that's allowable a 64 second quarter.
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  Kind of looks like a a 62nd quarter, a 72 second quarter
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  doesn't look like a 62nd quarter and therefore violates one of
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  the principles that you're looking for with your coaching.
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  I OK. So again, we're talking about
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  that from the first week of practice when I have tempo runs,
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  how do I begin to set that up? And here's kind of what we do.
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  You have to as I just denoted. And that's why all that stuff up
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  front is kind of it's kind of a lot of stuff to wade through.
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  But unless you have all of those things stabilizing and tethering
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  your decisions to reality and good coaching levels, you can't
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  possibly begin to write decent workouts because you're not
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  making the right ask. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
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  Hey, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Guild 1918
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  Project series. It's really my mission, my
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  passion to bring you massive amounts of value and I hope this
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  one hit the mark. The Guilt 1918 Project is really
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  dependent on you if for you to build your own episode, to hear
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  your voice, to have your voice heard you have something to say
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  and teach other coaches out there.
• 21:56
  So please get a hold of me, e-mail, text message, Twitter,
• 22:01
  smoke signals, get a hold of me and let's help create your
• 22:04
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• 22:06
  Hope you enjoy today, they will see you tomorrow.