Mastering the 800m: Sub-2:00 and Sub-2:20 Training

Published December 6, 2024

Here we are on day three of learning about the training your kids need to do from December through May. If you missed the first two emails click here and here to read them.

Today, we’re going to talk about 800m training, specifically how you can help boys break 2:00 and girls break 2:20 in the months of April and May.

But first, two things… Don’t forget the live class this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern / 5 p.m. Pacific. I’ll have a special bonus for coaches who join this free class that night.

You can watch it on YouTube or Facebook.

And for the next few days you can get 8 copies of the second edition of Consistency Is Key, plus my Craft of Coaching course, for free when you enroll in the Track Training System (TTS). I’ll share more details about the system next week, but if you’re curious to learn more click here.

Before we dive into 800m training, don’t be overwhelmed by the fact that there are a lot of numbers in today's email. Just read the email carefully so that you can understand how we're going to help kids break 2:00 and 2:20.

We have to be specific about our race pace workouts for kids to be ready to break these barriers. All the math is correct; you just need to read this email a little slower than you do my normal Wednesday emails to let it all sink in. In a few minutes, you’ll have a plan, complete with a full workout, to set your kids up to do this in April and May. Ready? Let’s go!

Breaking 2:00, Breaking 2:20

Running under 2:00 (boys) or 2:20 (girls) in the 800m is a significant challenge and a huge milestone for any high school runner. Helping your runners reach that goal takes a solid 800m training plan with specific race pace work, though.

The goal for the next few minutes is to give you a clear understanding of how to run the 800m, with the splits needed to run 1:59 and 2:19, and to give you an 800m workout that can be used to run the right splits.

Before we dive in, we need to assume that the athlete is already running 2:00-2:01 for boys and 2:20-2:22 for girls. If your athletes have been running these times – or at least 2:02 and 2:23 – the following applies to them.

But if the athlete is running 2:04 or slower, or 2:24 or slower, they’re two steps away from breaking 2:00 or 2:20.

However, the principles below apply to any athlete trying to run a 2-second PR in the 800m, so you’ll want to keep reading.

800m Race Splits To Aim For

The best run 800m races at every level of the sport – high school, college, professional – are positive split races.

…okay, there was a guy who won the NCAA DI Outdoor meet two years ago running a negative split, but that’s definitely not the norm...

Trust me on this: for kids to break 2:00 and 2:20, the vast majority of the time they’re going to run a positive split.

A positive split race simply means that the second half of the race is slower than the first half of the race.

This is different from all other high school distance races - 1600m, 3200m, 5k XC - where the vast majority of the time athletes will PR when they run a race where the second half is faster. This is called a negative split race.

What this means is that 400m splits of 59/60 and 69/70 – a one-second positive split race – are more common than even splits of 59.5/59.5 and 69.5/69.5.

What we don’t want is a negative split race of 60/59 and 70/69 as most athletes who are right at the 2:00 and 2:20 barrier are going to have a hard time PRing with those splits.

To be clear, if this is counterintuitive – that the second lap would be slower than the first lap – that’s fine. Now you know that you need to teach kids to run the first lap fast, knowing they’ll slow a bit on the second lap.

You can take this a step further and say that most high school 800m races where athletes PR are going to have a 2-3 second difference between the first lap and the second lap.

So, 58.5/60.5 and 58/61 for boys and 68.5/70.5 and 68/71 for girls are all great splits.

A four-second differential isn’t horrible – 57.5/61.5 and 67.5/71.5 – yet most coaches like the 2-3 second differential.

If we can agree that athletes need to run positive splits to break the 2:00 or 2:20 barrier, the question is then, “How can I help an athlete run these splits for the 800m race and what kind of 800m workouts will get them there?”

Three Keys to Breaking 2:00 and 2:20 In The 800m

Let’s keep this really simple. If the athlete can do the following three things, they can break 2:00 or 2:20.

Run the first 200m aggressively
Run as relaxed as possible from the 200m mark to the 500m mark
“Compete!” in the last 300m

We’ve broken the 800m race into three segments – 200m, 300m, 300m. Now we need to identify what the athlete needs to do in each segment to PR.

Before I explain both the splits and mentality needed in each segment, I want you to think about what coaches in other sports do at their practices.

They have athletes practice game situations
They have athletes practice at game speeds

We need to apply that same idea to 800m workouts. We need to have athletes running the splits in practice that they’ll run in the race.

We also need them to have the same energy level for these practices that they do at the meet.

Should they run all out in practice? No. But most high school athletes bring much less energy to the key workouts than they have to if they want to prepare to break the 2:00 or 2:20 barriers.

For the 800m training plan below to work, your athletes will have to bring their “A game” to practice.

What this means is that they’re going to run the same paces in practice that they’ll run in a 1:59 or 2:19 race.

Again, a coach in other sports expects their athletes to do what they’ll do in practice in the game.

Your athletes have to practice PR splits in workouts to PR at the meet.

Racing The 800m

In a well-run 800ms, even during practice, typically the first 200m is the fastest of 200m of the race. And remember that the athlete is doing this from a standing start.

Being aggressive here is often the biggest opportunity for an athlete to break these barriers. In a moment I’ll explain what splits we might want to see for the 200m.

Run as Relaxed as Possible from 200m to 500m

A fit 800m runner should be able to run with great posture and feel pretty good from 200m to 500m (the start of the backstretch on the second lap/300m hurdle start). The key here is not to let the pace slow in this 300m segment. If the pace does slow, it’s going to be hard for the athlete to break the barrier.

“Compete!” in the Last 300m

I love this simple word: "Compete!"

When you can help an athlete embrace this idea as the only goal for the last 300m, the chance of them running 1:59 or 2:19 for 800ms is high. If they have the fitness to run close to 2:00 and 2:20 going into the race, sometimes it’s just as simple as them being ready to be uncomfortable and ready to pass athletes once they hit the last 300m mark.

You might need to have the conversation that "to do things you’ve never done before, you’ve got to do things you’ve never done before.”

Most of the time, an athlete who is stuck at 2:00 or 2:20 hasn’t embraced the fact that a PR race is probably going to hurt more than their 2:00 or 2:20 races. But if they want to run 1:59 or 2:19 - or faster! - they need to be ready to hurt for less than a minute.

Now that we have the 800m broken into three segments, let’s look at some splits for each segment.

Splits To Aim For In 800m Workouts

Here are the splits we’re aiming for in a two second positive split race. To be clear, I think a three second positive split race is fine, too.

The 400 splits are going to be 58.5/60.5 and 68.5/70.5.

“Got it, Jay. But you said the first 200m is going to be aggressive. What should they run for that first 200m?”

Let’s look at 68.5 for the young woman. I really like simple 34.0 and 34.5 200m splits for her.

The pace of a 34.0 200m is 68 for 400m, which means she’s running 2:16 800m rhythm. This is going to feel much faster for her than she normally runs, assuming she’s running 2:20-2:23 going into this race. Remind her that if she wants to do things she’s never done before - breaking 2:20 - she’s got to do things she’s never done before - going out at 2:16 pace.

It’s crucial that she practices 200's from a standing start in 34.0 (and not 34.5 - that’s not fast enough) for the rest of the splits to get her to 2:19

The first two 200m splits for the young man to run 58.5 are going to be 29.0 and 29.5. The first 200m in 29.0 is 1:56 pace, and just like the young woman, this is a big jump for him from his current PR of 2:00-2:01.

“Got it. So, what do they need to run for the second 400m?”

Splits To Reach 2:19.0 For Girls In The 800ms

The 400m splits are 68.5 and 70.5.

The 200m splits are 34.0, 34.5, 35.0, 35.5

Splits To Reach 1:59.0 For Boys In The 800m

The 400m splits are 58.5 and 60.5.

The 200m splits are 29.0, 29.5, 30.0, 30.5.

To be clear, athletes aren’t going to hit these splits exactly, but they should be close. If anything, the second split could be a bit faster and the fourth split could be slower...which may mean a 2.5 second differential between the first 400m and the second 400m is just fine.

"This all makes sense, but you said we were breaking the race into three segments – 200m, 300m, 300m. What should those splits be?”

This is a fair question. The athlete should run with the 200m-300m-300m race plan, yet the coach can get the 200m splits. If the race will be videoed, you can go back and look at the 200m-300m-300m splits, yet at the meet, just get these splits.

“Got it! What should we do for a workout to get the athletes ready to run these splits?”

A Simple 800m Workout: 1 x 500m and 3 x 120m

The following 800m training plan is a lighter workout and could be done 72-hours before a race. In the Track Training System (TTS) I have full volume track workouts for distance runners and 48-hour workouts.

If the race was on Saturday, they’d do the 48-hour workout on Thursday and the full volume workout on Tuesday.

The day before an 800m your athletes can do the 800m Pre-Race Day. Make sure you check out that article and get the PDFs and videos that go along with it. I’m going to assume you’ve read that article to understand some of the following…

Dynamic warm-up

You can watch it on YouTube or click here to get it on your phone

3 x 150m In-n-outs

These are simple.

Have them start in any lane on the track in the middle of the second curve. From a standing start have them build up for 50m to 800m rhythm.

They’ll run 800m rhythm for 50m, focusing on running with good posture and running as relaxed as possible.

Then they’ll gently - emphasis on gently - decelerate for 50m to the finish line. If they "hit the breaks" and slow down hard, that'll put undue stress on their hamstrings.

It’s called an In-n-out because we’re running into the 50m at 800m rhythm, running 50m at 800m rhythm, then running out of it.

3 x 100m (with a run-in)

Before we dive into this workout, I need to provide some important context about its purpose and execution.

The core of this workout is a 500m run that precisely models the race pace your kids need to run to break 2:00/2:20. Think of it as a dress rehearsal - athletes will run the first 500m exactly as they should when attempting their new PR.

The success of this workout hinges on proper pacing. If athletes start either too aggressively or too conservatively, the workout is mostly a failure (though they do gain a metabolic stimulus). This is why we need to get their legs moving at the correct pace before the 500m.

To help athletes lock in the correct pace, we have them run three 100m segments at the exact pace they'll need for the first 200m of the workout. We describe this in the training plan as "3 x 100m with a run-in."

This preparation ensures athletes can feel and internalize the correct pace before attempting the full 500m segment, making the workout much more effective at developing the specific fitness and pacing awareness needed for breaking their time barrier.

What do I mean when I say “run-in?”

This just means we’re giving them 20m or so to accelerate to the 100m pace they will run. We don’t want these 100s to be from a standing start because we want them as comfortable as possible at this pace.

What we’re doing with these 100s to “groove race pace.” So they need to be at 29.0 second 200m pace for boys and 34.0 second 200m pace for girls, the same pace they’ll need to run in the first 200m of the race.

So that’s 14.5 seconds for 100m for boys and 17.0 seconds for girls.

They’ve got three chances to hit these times.

Have them take 90 seconds walk/jog between these. We need the athlete to groove the pace they're about to run. We don't want that first 100m of the 500m to be slow, nor too fast.

500m - Race Modeling

Now they’ll run 500m from a standing start, replicating the race pace of the first 500m of an 800m race. Tell them to be aggressive on the first turn.

Boys come through 200m at 29.0 seconds and 400m 58.5 seconds, with a 500m time of 73.5 seconds.

Girls come through 200m at 34.0 seconds and 400m 68.5 seconds with a 500m time of 86.0 seconds.

Have them take 5 minutes recovery. The first 2-3 minutes should be walking. From there they can continue to walk, or they can jog a bit. But we want them recovering during this time, not trying to gain some fitness by “challenging the recovery.”

3 x 120m with a 30m run-in

Ideally, they run by feel and you tell them “Run PR pace and feel good.”

They should be running 1:58.0 or 2:18.0 rhythm. For a 120m this is 17.7 seconds and 20.7 seconds. But we’d rather they run faster than those paces than slower, so I’d tell them 17.5-17.7 seconds and 20.5-20.7 seconds. Make sure they run at least this fast.

If they run 1:55-1:56 pace and 2:15-2:16 pace that’s fine, so long as they look good, are running with good posture, and are having fun with it.

They recover by walking 100m to the middle of the backstretch, then jogging until they hit the 150m to go mark to do their 30m run-in.

Jogging isn’t necessary to cool down, but rather do some strength and mobility exercises.

Are They Really Ready to Break 2:00 or 2:20?

If they’ve been stuck at 2:00-2:01, or 2:20-2:22, then they can absolutely break through these barriers with this 800m workout.

Yet, as I said at the beginning of email, you must be honest with the athlete who has run 2:04 or 2:24 that they are likely two steps away from breaking these speed barriers.

My college coach often talked about the “next logical step” and for the 2:04 athlete that’s 2:02 and for the 2:24 athlete that’s 2:22.

Make sure you and the athletes are on the same page about this reality.

So there you go - everything you need to help your kids that are stuck at 2:01-2:02 and 2:21-2:22 break these important barriers.

Live Class Sunday Night

Join me for a fast-paced class Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern / 5 p.m. Pacific.

I’ll have a special bonus for coaches who join this free class, a bonus that won’t be available on Monday.

You can watch it on YouTube or Facebook.

We’re going to make 2025 your team’s best year yet.

Let’s go!

PS - Coaches are getting kids to run 1:55 with the Track Training System (TTS).

"We started with the TTS going into track of 2023, and added the XCTS in the fall.

It paid off, as our boys qualified for the state cross country meet for the first time since before Covid.

One of big things for me was trying to eliminate injuries - we had a very talented freshman in 2022 who missed several meets while dealing with shin splints, and he was so frustrated with being hurt, he didn't even run track that season, or cross country as a sophomore.

That runner came back for track this spring, and working within the system, stayed healthy while getting back into the sport. And ended up breaking our school record in the 800 four times, finishing with a 1:55 that was third in the state meet.

Obviously, a hugely talented athlete, but the key was keeping him healthy enough to enjoy the sport." - David Honea

The system never goes on sale, but if you get it in the next few days you get 8 copies of Consistency Is Key - the new edition - plus my Craft of Coaching course, a course that isn't for sale.

If you're on the fence you owe it to yourself and your kids to learn more.