Tag: 200m

Training for Speed Matters – Part 2

In the first part I discussed how many runners may be underperforming because they haven’t developed their speed. We saw how quickly Paula Radcliffe was running even when she was in the marathon.

Like Paula, almost all elite runners start out as track athletes usually in events lasting a mile or less. If they discover they don’t have the talent for that then they do longer track events – Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s premier marathoner, began by winning World Championship gold in the 5,000m at age 18. His winning time of 12:52.79 is a pace of 4:07/mile. He ran his best mile a year later in 3:50.

Let’s go back to 2012 when Mo Farah was in the early stages of his Olympic / World Championship dominance. He took part in the BBC’s Superstars TV programme and clocked 12.98s over 100m; followed in by the Brownlee brothers – champion triathletes with Jonny clocking 14.33s and Alistair 14.70s.   Obviously these times are nothing compared to elite sprinters but these are athletes who are better suited to distance events. I doubt they spent too much of their valuable training time on preparing for a TV contest’s 100metres but how would you compare?

Mo’s training is on record with him being able to run 100m off a 2-step start in 11sec, 200m in 25s and 400m in 51s.  When he won the 5000m Olympic title in Rio in 2016, his final lap was 52.7s having already run 4,600m.

I detailed in the Ageing runner series the world records for Masters runners at a variety of distances.  Here I will reproduce the latest records over 200m – ageing is often given as an excuse why runners aren’t fast. I contend it’s more often the case that they’ve failed to maximise their speed before attempting to become distance runners.

 MenTimeMaleDate
WR19.19Usain Bolt20-Aug-09
V3520.11Linford Christie25-Jun-95
V4020.64Troy Douglas09-Aug-03
V4521.65Alexander Kosenkow23-Jul-22
V5022.44Willie Gault07-May-11
V5523.24Willie Gault07-May-16
V6024.00Ronald Taylor10-Jun-94
V6524.65Charles Allie26-Jul-13
V7025.75Charles Allie21-Jun-18
V7527.73Robert Lida05-Aug-12
V8029.54Hijiya Hisamitsu16-Sep-12
V8531.69Hijiya Hisamitsu17-Sep-16
V9036.02Hiroo Tanaka23-May-21
V9545.34Yoshiyuki Shimizu23-Oct-23
    
 WomenTimeFemaleDate
WR21.34Florence Griffith Joyner29-Sep-88
V3521.81Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce21-Jul-22
V4022.72Merlene Ottey23-Aug-04
V4523.82Merlene Ottey27-Aug-06
V5024.33Merlene Ottey18-Jul-10
V5524.83Mandy Mason25-Nov-23
V6027.78Nicole Alexis03-Jul-22
V6528.53Karla Del Grande05-Aug-18
V7031.30Ingrid Meier02-Jul-17
V7531.56Carol LaFayette-Boyd09-Sep-18
V8034.38Carol LaFayette-Boyd31-Jul-23
V8540.20Christa Bortignon27-Aug-22
V9055.62Mitsu Morita30-Jun-13
V9501:13.0Diane Friedman22-Jul-17

Of course these are the world records for Masters athletes who are committed to the sport. You or I will probably never be able to achieve the numbers for our age groups. Yet I feel it’s also worth considering that if you’re a man who can barely run 200m in under 35s, there is at least one 80-year-old woman who could beat you in a race. I don’t say that to disparage Carol Lafayette-Boyd who achieved it last year but more as an encouragement to anyone, male or female of younger years, to reconsider that they might be underutilising their talent.

It’s notable looking at these tables that the best men are still easily running under 30secs for 200m (4min/mile) into their seventies while the women are capable of it into their sixties. Of course these records are set by dedicated sprinters but until you try, you won’t know what you’re truly capable of.

Training for Speed Matters – Part 1

I like to ask runners I’m coaching to run 200m to give me an idea of their speed. I say to them “You don’t need to get the starting blocks out. You don’t need to go 100% all-out and risk injury. Just do a good warm-up, have a little break and then go run hard for 200m and see what your time is.”

The most recent lady who did this trial recorded a time of 45secs. This is not a terrible time by any means but what it does show is that at best, she will run 400m in 1min30, 800m in 3mins and a mile in six. Her parkrun time will be just under 19mins, a 10K in 38mins, half marathon 1hr20 and marathon 2hr40. Those latter numbers sound pretty damn amazing to anyone who isn’t already a decent runner.

But, and there is a huge but, when you run 200metres flat out – you’re going flat out. Your arms and legs are pumping like crazy. After twenty seconds you begin to hyperventilate and then it all starts to hurt and you’d prefer to stop. When you finished you’re gasping for breath. You’ll probably be bent over double for the next couple of minutes trying to get your breath back.  And that’s the problem – this is your absolute best and it’s only over 200m. It’s not going to transfer as you run longer distances.

It’s more realistic that if you run 45secs for 200m you’re probably looking at 25mins for parkrun, 52mins for 10K, 1hr55 for half marathon and 4hrs for the marathon. Again, these may be times you find impressive.

If we look at world-class runners, even Paula Radcliffe – the former world record holder for the women’s marathon – can break 30s for 200m. And she is a runner who is best suited to long distances. To give you perspective on Paula’s speed, here is a look at her Personal Bests:

DistancePersonal Best timeMile paceKm pacePace per 200m
400m58.9s3:572:2729.5s
800m2:084:122:3732s
Mile4:254:252:4533s
5,000m14:294:402:5435s
10,000m30:014:493:0036s
1/2 Marathon1:05:405:013:0737s
Marathon2:15:255:103:1238s

Even when she runs a marathon, she is covering 200m quicker than all but a few recreational runners and it’s relatively effortless for her at that pace until perhaps the final miles when her fuel stores are depleted and her muscles aching.

Paula started out as a track runner. It was only as she approached thirty years old that she moved up in distance from races like the 5,000 and 10,000m to half and full marathons. While this is often true of recreational runners who begin with Couch25K and then try longer distances, the notable difference is that Paula had been training for the better part of twenty years before she moved up to the longest distances.

I wrote briefly about how her children have taken up running at the ages of 8 and 12 and could already run a kilometre in under 4mins. Her approach hasn’t been to have the kids running mile after mile in training but to run as fast as they can over shorter distances.

The consequence of being fast over a short distance is it allows you to be quick over longer ones. If you’re slow over short distances then all you can ever be is slow over long distances – that’s basic mathematics.

Build speed then build the endurance to cover the race distance you’re aiming for.