Track question - 400 meters?

Question

My daughter and I have a disagreement about the best method for running the 400m. What is the fastest way to do this race? She tried running slower in the begining and fast in the end but got a timeof 1:58. Her best time however is 1:33 by her method of starting out fast, slowing down in the middle and going really fast at the end.

Answer 1

You go out as fast as you can but totally relaxed for the first 200m...then gut out the last 200m when you're full of lactic acid.

that is the only way to run a 400

Answer 2

well 400 meters is qute challening but here is how it goes.

100m- try to keep up or go around 60%

200m- keep up

300m- start going at around 75-80%

and then for the last 100 meters sprint to the finish line at 110%

well that is how i do it and my time is a 54.73s

Answer 3

lol this is the question i asked myself all my junior year of track.

i asked my friend who was a state qualifier as a sophmore in the 4x4 how to run it he told me this and it cut my time my 4 seconds. from 1:04 to 1:00

first 50 meters - full out sprint

next 150 meters slow down but not too much say 80% of top                      speed.

next 100 meters you want to start slowly building up a little speed.

the last 100m she should be tired. but it is the last 100m

what u do is u use the speed u picked up on the last 100m and you can either try going faster or keeping your pace either way thats the best energy efficent way to run the 400m

Answer 4

the key to running the best 400m is to run it all evenly. its hard but you have to get use to it, but everybody runs their own race if you catch my drift. work with resistance training (running up hills with or w/out weight vest its up to you, and polymetrics). at the track set up cones or markers at every 100m that you as the coach can see. have your set goal time and break it down into 100m splits and that is the time she needs to hit at every 400m. don't start out at that time so add or subtract seconds to each split as needed. it will be very hard and she will complain, but she has to work towards this goal. i'm guessing she is young. if she is not older than 16 or has not finished puberty DON'T PUSH HER! she does not need to run more than 2 400m and thats with and estimated 15 minutes recovery. other wise you will ruin her in the long run.

NOT CONVICED. when michael johnson broke the 400m world record in 1999, his 200m splits were 21.3 and 21.9 roughly.  jeremy wariner does the same thing.

whoevers idea it was to start out fast you have the right idea but the fast start needs to be something that she can hold and really only applys to coming out of blocks.

you can also do the splits with 200m, see which works best for her.

hope she runs fast and beats everybody.

P.S. a little sports physiology tip. every runner hits lactic acid build up after running about 40 sec. so she need s to learn what it feels like to run under lactic and get a sense at what point in the race she will hit lactic so time her and ask her. but like i said don't push her too hard.

Answer 5

her way is best...

top runners,

in the first the first 100m come out fast and then down the backstraight they relax into a comfort stride, then slowly pick it up again with 200m to go, then in the last 100m, is live or die haha..

but yes i when i ran my PR of 47.79 i ran the first 200m in 22.85 then tried to hold it..

Answer 6

There's no room in any race 800m or shorter for 60%!  Are you kidding me?  As for running the beginning and the end fast, this works but the variation in speed should be fairly slight and almost unnoticeable to a spectator.

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Acceleration is when you body uses the most energy (just like a car uses more fuel when you accelerate rather than maintaining speed) so why would you slow down dramatically after accelerating only to accelerate again?

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The most efficient way to race the 400 meter is to go out at 90-95% sprint for the first 7 seconds (just past the top of the first curve on an outdoor track). After this you should settle in slightly to what I call a "cruise." This should be faster than comfortable but not straining. You'll stay on this pace until the top of the next curve. At this point, you need to gauge how much energy you have left. A good place to try to accelerate is with 120-130m to go. You've past 40 seconds into the race now and your muscles are swimming in hydrogen ions (what feels like burning) from your body breaking down sugars into muscle fuel (ATP/CP). It is very important to stay relaxed while driving your knees and arms. Run through the finish line (very important since you've come this far already, why slow down in the last few steps?).

Successful 400m runners have the guts to go out quickly (but not all out) and the confidence to finish strong.

Now, if your daughter is running around 93 seconds there's a lot of room for improvement.  Do some pace work with her so  she knows what a 22 second 100m feels like.  This should be her average pace to hit 90s for 400m.

The short answer to your question is: fast, slow, fast is better than slow, fast, but 90%, 85%, 90% is more like it achieve her best performance.  I bet that she could run 80-85s with a sound race strategy.