Thread: Track~distance

A dynamic warm up would be in order, I would certainly add in different forms of bounding for plyo work.

Here is a site for form and general athletic improvement..

http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/sprints/index.htm

There are pics somewhere on that site.

you should check out athletes.com also.... if you have never ran the 400 before and youre just now training when track season starts in spring.... good luck winning anything.

400 m IMO is one of the most grueling track events. One thing you have to remember is to maintain a breathing pattern. There is actually a whole science to it. Form also is huge. Keep your hands loose - not hyper extended or in a fist. Always keep your mouth open and breathe through it.(some people actually don't do this) Keep your arms low and head slightly tilted down. As far as training you should do interval training once a week. It is good to have a partner for this. For intervals: run 400 m and have a time to shoot for. Say 80 seconds to start off (not very fast, but a good time to orient yourself). Have your partner use a stop watch and call your time out at every 100 m's. Try to reach each 100 m's at every 20 seconds. This will train you to pace yourself. Rest one minute. Then move on to 600 m's doing the same but increase the time to 100 seconds seconds. Rest 60 seconds. 800 meters, 120 seconds. Rest 120 seconds. 600 m's 100 seconds. Rest 90 seconds. Then finish with a 400 m's in 80 without your partner calling out your times but record them on a paper and then see how you did without having someone to call out times to help pace. After this just run 1 mile at an easy pace.(I don't know how your lungs are but maybe something around 9 minutes) Next time you do intervals decrease the time from 80 seconds to whatever you see fit. This particular kidna of interval training is pretty harsh so do them no more than twice a week. What I told you is the basic idea, you can change it around if you like. As for other things you can do 100 meter sprints, walk 100 meters, 100 meter sprint, and so on. You can do a more advanced version of sprinting 200 meters, walking 100 meters, sprinting 200 meters, etc.

Doing these things should give you a good improvement in your time. Esp. if it is pre-season. By the time the meets start you should be doing fine. Are you doing any other events or just the 400 m?

Originally Posted by fufu

400 m IMO is one of the most grueling track events. One thing you have to remember is to maintain a breathing pattern. There is actually a whole science to it. Form also is huge. Keep your hands loose - not hyper extended or in a fist. Always keep your mouth open and breathe through it.(some people actually don't do this) Keep your arms low and head slightly tilted down. As far as training you should do interval training once a week. It is good to have a partner for this. For intervals: run 400 m and have a time to shoot for. Say 80 seconds to start off (not very fast, but a good time to orient yourself). Have your partner use a stop watch and call your time out at every 100 m's. Try to reach each 100 m's at every 20 seconds. This will train you to pace yourself. Rest one minute. Then move on to 600 m's doing the same but increase the time to 100 seconds seconds. Rest 60 seconds. 800 meters, 120 seconds. Rest 120 seconds. 600 m's 100 seconds. Rest 90 seconds. Then finish with a 400 m's in 80 without your partner calling out your times but record them on a paper and then see how you did without having someone to call out times to help pace. After this just run 1 mile at an easy pace.(I don't know how your lungs are but maybe something around 9 minutes) Next time you do intervals decrease the time from 80 seconds to whatever you see fit. This particular kidna of interval training is pretty harsh so do them no more than twice a week. What I told you is the basic idea, you can change it around if you like. As for other things you can do 100 meter sprints, walk 100 meters, 100 meter sprint, and so on. You can do a more advanced version of sprinting 200 meters, walking 100 meters, sprinting 200 meters, etc.

Doing these things should give you a good improvement in your time. Esp. if it is pre-season. By the time the meets start you should be doing fine. Are you doing any other events or just the 400 m?

Interval sprints, hill sprints, sand dune sprints, up and down stairs sprints, any type of high intensity training to improve your breathing will help - the more varied the training the better to keep your interest. Make sure you're doing all real world training - no treadmills.

See also: http://www.alwyncosgrove.com/Endurance.html -- the same principles apply.

Oh - nearly forgot - practice your starts. Most sprints, and you have to make the 400 m a sprint to be competitive, are won and lost over the first ten metres. We spent hours doing 10 metre start practices.