200m Speed-Endurance Workout
by Steve McGill

This time of year, with spring track on the horizon and many new athletes coming out who may or may not be in the best of shape, coaches have to work in the new athletes with the athletes who are already in shape from training and competing during the indoor season. When I was coaching for a big school team, I would have the new out-of-shape kids do the same workouts as the rest of the team, but I would group the new kids together so that they wouldn’t feel intimidated by how far they are behind everybody else. Sometimes, the new kids are in good shape (maybe they played another sport like swimming or wrestling during the winter, or maybe they worked out on their own), so they can blend in with the regulars. This month’s workout is designed to build speed-endurance for the kids who didn’t run track indoors and need to build their strength, though it is also a good workout for any members of the sprint/hurdle group.

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The Workout:
3 sets of 3×200

The Breakdown:
Within each set, the athletes will do the following:

• Run the first 200 starting at the 200 start line.
• Rest 30-60 seconds, 
• Run the second 200 starting at the 400 start line.
• Rest 30-60 seconds
• Run the third 200 starting at the 300 start line.

Between sets, rest five minutes.

Times:
Within each set, the goal is for the second rep to be within one second of the first rep, and for the third rep to be within one second of the second rep.The first rep should be run at 90% of full speed in order to establish the standard of the workout. When coaching a big team, it might be easier to divide the athletes into groups and to set a target time for each group. So, if you have a group of athletes who all run the 200 in the 24 range, then the reps should go something like this:

• Rep one: 26.5
• Rep two: 27.5
• Rep three: 28.5

The aim would be for all reps in all three sets to be consistent. So it’s important that the athletes not run the first rep of the first set too fast or too slow. If it’s too fast, they’ll be overwhelmed and could lose consistency later in the workout. If too slow, then they won’t be challenged and the workout won’t serve its purpose.

Rest:
The least amount of rest is for the athletes who are in the best shape. For athletes who are getting into shape, it’s best to start with 60 seconds rest, and to work down to 45 seconds, and then 30 seconds, as the weeks go on. 

Sometimes, I’ll increase the rest from one set to the next. If I start with 30 seconds rest and the times get too slow by the last rep of the first set, then I might begin the second set by giving them 45 seconds rest. While with many hurdle-specific workouts I’ll readily give the athletes as much rest as they need to maintain quality, with this workout I don’t want to give too much leeway in regards to rest because the whole point is to challenge the athletes to build their speed-endurance. So, under no circumstances, will I give the athletes more than 60 seconds between reps, or more than five minutes between sets. 

At the end of the workout, I might have the hurdlers do some drilling (marching popovers, quicksteps) as a cooldown. Or, if I see issues in athletes’ sprint mechanics, we’ll finish with some sprint drills instead. 

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