[mcmath]

mcmath on June 28, 2009 at 3:43 pm #15924

Hello, I found this forum to have a lot of good advice, so I wanted to ask about training for the 400m. I want to be able to run 50-50.5s in the 400m by the end of August, because my college has tryouts then and I want to walk-on to the team. My question is, is it better to train in shorter distances and work up to 400m (practice 200m at 25s, then work up to 300m at 38s, and eventually be running 400m at 50s pace) or train in longer distances combined with sprint practice (4x400m, 3x800m, mile runs combined with 40 yard sprints). I have exactly two months so I want to plan as soon as possible, any advice would be appreciated. I know 50. is an extensive goal, but I want to make an effort rather than let my track career end in high school.

[mcmath]

mcmath on June 28, 2009 at 3:52 pm #85769

Here’s some information about myself. I ran track for four years in high school, but only ran the 100m and LJ. I ran 400m during time trials but I never trained beyond 100 meters, so I’d get around 54.x. I think I have enough speed to run 50.x in the 400m since my 100m time is usually 11.1/11.3FAT. I lift extensively as well, and leg press 400+lbs (reps), bench 270 (max), squat 200+ (rep), power clean 150 (rep). Since I only have two months, should I be lifting and sprinting 20-40m, or should I just focus on getting my endurance up?

[Mccabe]

Mccabe on June 28, 2009 at 8:06 pm #85772

With 11.1 100m speed you should be able to run a 50.5, rather than practicing 200’s at 25 and 300’s at 38 they should be at 24.0 and 36.0

[mortac8]

mortac8 on June 29, 2009 at 1:53 am #85775

Just realize that increasing max squat and leg press up probably isn’t going to help your 400 time that much.

Your training approach this summer may depend on the college’s training system. Are their tryouts speed based or “run your guts out” based?

[Danny Tutskey]

Danny Tutskey on June 29, 2009 at 2:11 am #85777

I think you will need to build strength in the weighroom and on the track. Here are some workouts that are all over the web. It will just give you an idea of what some programs do. It by no means is the way to train. You know what you lack in training and what your strengths are. These are just examples, but in no way are they the way to train.

400 Meters
Sample Workouts

1. Fall (September through December)

Monday
1. Warm up: 1 mile cross country run
2. Flexibility exercises
3. 2 x 600 Speed 60 sec. 400/ rest 15 minutes
4. 3 x 300 Speed 50 sec./rest 1 minute
5. 3 x 300 Speed 40 sec./rest 5 minutes
6. Cool down: 1 mile cross country run
7. Weights

Tuesday
1 . Warm up: 1 mile cross country run
2. Flexibility exercises
3. 10 x 200 Speed 30 sec./Rest 3 minutes
4. 6 x 150 long hill runs Speed fast/rest, jog back
5. Cool down: 1 mile cross country run

Wednesday
1. Warm up: 1 mile cross country run
2. Flexibility exercises
3. 4 x 350 (Event Run) Speed 48 sec/Rest 10 minutes
(50 fast 1 50 relaxed, 200 time 28 seconds l 00
picked up fast dast 50 steady and keeping good form)
4. 3 x 200 Speed 30 29 28 sec/Rest 3 minutes
5. Cool down: 1 mile cross country run
6. Weights

Thursday
1 . Warm up: 1 mile cross country run
2. Flexibility exercises
3. 600 400 200 400 600 Speed 30 sec pace/rest 5 minutes
4. 6 x 100 strides Speed medium/rest 1 minute
5. Cool down: 1 mile cross country run

Friday
1 . Warm up: 1/2 mile cross country run
2. Flexibility Exercises
3.Two mile cross country timed run
4. Weights

Saturday No organized practice, encouraged to do 3 miles running

Sunday No organized practice, encouraged to do 20 minute fartlek

2. Early Season (January February)

Monday
1. Warm up: 1 mile in and outs (100 sprint/100 walk,
3 laps, faster each lap, 4th lap run 200, 26 seconds)
2. Flexibility Exercises
3. 2 x 500 Speed 56 seconds 400/rest 15 minutes
4. 3 x 200 Speed 30 29 28 seconds/rest 3 minutes
5. 8 x 10 second rope jumps/rest 10 seconds, repeat

Tuesday
1. Warm up: 1 mile in and outs
2. Flexibility Exercises
3. 8 x 200 Speed 28 seconds rest 3 minutes
4. 6 x 150 long hills speed fast/rest jog back
5. Weights

Wednesday
1. Warm up: 1 mile in and outs
2. Flexibility Exercises
3. 4 x 300 (Event Run) spped 42/rest 5 minutes
4. 3 x 200 Speed 30 29 28/ rest 3 minutes
5. 6 x 10 second rope resistance runs speed f ast/rest 10 seconds.

Thursday
1. Warm up: I mile in and outs
2. Flexibility Exercises
3. 1 x 350 Speed fast/rest 15 minutes
4. 4 x 200 Speed 26 seconds/rest 5 minutes
5. Weights

Friday
1. Warm up: 1 mile in and outs
2. Flexibility Exercises
3. 3 x 200 speed 30 29 28/ rest 3 minutes
4. 1600 relay hand off work
Saturday Meet
Sunday NO organized workout, encouraged to do some light cross country running, about 20 mins

[mcmath]

mcmath on June 29, 2009 at 2:38 am #85784

thanks, I’ll try to play around with the workout to fit into a 2-month schedule. Is lifting twice a week and sprinting and plyos once a week a good idea for maintenance?

[samie0901]

samie0901 on June 29, 2009 at 3:10 am #85785

hey i’m just wondering what year are you going to be in college? I am actually thinking about doing the same thing as you but I have a slower time for the 100 about 11.9 seconds

[mcmath]

mcmath on June 29, 2009 at 12:43 pm #85806

I’m entering as a freshman. It’s a Division I college so I would need 10.8FAT to walk-on, but i’m totally peaked right now and can’t improve any more this summer.

[samie0901]

samie0901 on June 30, 2009 at 8:18 am #85830

can u tell me what is the key to getting faster, I am skinny but do you think I should lift a lot of leg weights to get faster and run up hills?

[mcmath]

mcmath on June 30, 2009 at 10:05 am #85833

I’m not really an expert in this, you might want to create a new thread and ask experienced people. But yea, lifting helps acceleration and max. speed, running hills helps acceleration, and you want to do quality sprint training (flying 30’s, 20m starts).

[mcmath]

mcmath on July 1, 2009 at 10:46 pm #85906

hey guys, finished my 8-week plan, and this week I began getting back in shape with half-mile runs and sprint/jog runs. I have one question–the most accessible “track” for me is a park that I live right next to, and I will practice there for the majority of my workouts. I can get to an actual track field maybe once a week. Is there an efficient way to measure distance? The park is approximately one mile but it’s got random turns and random straightaways, I think one straightaway is about 200m which is great. I want to run as accurate a distance as possible, but I don’t want to bring my measuring stick and measure the park every time. Do pedometers work if I go at varying speed/stride lengths?

[Jay Turner]

Jay Turner on July 2, 2009 at 4:10 pm #85927

hey guys, finished my 8-week plan, and this week I began getting back in shape with half-mile runs and sprint/jog runs. I have one question–the most accessible “track” for me is a park that I live right next to, and I will practice there for the majority of my workouts. I can get to an actual track field maybe once a week. Is there an efficient way to measure distance? The park is approximately one mile but it’s got random turns and random straightaways, I think one straightaway is about 200m which is great. I want to run as accurate a distance as possible, but I don’t want to bring my measuring stick and measure the park every time. Do pedometers work if I go at varying speed/stride lengths?

If you don’t have a track to run on, get creative. Who says you have to run for distance? Run for time. In other words, run for :xx seconds, instead of x meters.

[mcmath]

mcmath on July 3, 2009 at 6:44 pm #85958

the problem is, i need both distance + time to measure my progress and see if I’m on target for my workouts. I always bring a stopwatch so time is not a problem. All pedometers I’ve researched measures in miles, which is kinda awkward to convert (100m=0.062mile, 200m=0.124mile).

[mcmath]

mcmath on July 3, 2009 at 6:51 pm #85959

bah who needs pedometers, i’ll just figure out how many steps it takes to walk 100/200/300m and stick golf tees at the appropriate distances. problem solved:)

[Jay Turner]

Jay Turner on July 4, 2009 at 4:51 am #85965

bah who needs pedometers, i’ll just figure out how many steps it takes to walk 100/200/300m and stick golf tees at the appropriate distances. problem solved:)

There ya go! As I said, get creative!