Recovery between 800 and 400?

Question

After doing an 800m race- how much time do you need to fully gather your breath before starting the 400? do sports drinks and power gels help?

Answer 1

at my school's meets the 800 is after the 400 and they are separated by about 30min. if your 400 is after the 800 by less than 20-30 minutes you shouldn't eat or drink anything, but if it is longer than that you can drink some gatorade (not a whole bottle but maybe 1/4-1/3) it is easier (in my experience) to run a shorter race after a longer one. i run the 3200 and then i run the 2nd leg of our 4x400 which is about 10-15 min later and i can still do my 400 at top speed so when going down in distance it isn't too much of a problem to recover

Answer 2

i ran a 400m. about 15 minutes after a mile and ran a PR in the 400 and mile so you should be fine. just take some small sips of water or Gatorade and dont eat anything.