Is speedwork necessary for Sub-50 400m?

Maybe.

You'll also become a good 800 runner.

It's spring. Live in the now. You are about to start track season.

Worry about the fall after track season.

That being said. Your coach is an idiot if he really thinks cross country in fall will ruin you speed.

Personally, I think training with the sprinters is great for a high school sophomore even if mid-distance or distance is your future.

But if you don't like it you should do what you like. Liking what what you do really helps when it comes to putting in the work.

If you go to a decent program running XC is definitely a bad move if you are serious about wanting to run sub 50. If you are just a really talented kid and your coaches don't know shit XC might be a bit of a help.

But if you want to be a sprinter, you need to be a sprinter. If you do XC expect to become an 800m/1600m guy next year, unless you set something up with the XC coach so you basically don't train with the team at all (which defeats the point, right?)

your 400 PR seems much better than your 200 pr. You might have more endurance than you think and maybe you'll be an 800 meter runner in the future. In this case XC would be very good for you. But will XC ruin your speed? Depending on how your coach works with you it might compromise it at the beginning of your season but I don't see why you can't harness it and work to get under 50 in the spring. We just completed an indoor season where a 600 runner went through his 400 faster than ever basically through speed endurance training and pure speed training. We haven't even done real hard 300s-350s yet. What else would you do in the fall? Do you have separate XC and track coaches? Maybe they can train you differently than the real distance runners

Running distance will not ruin your speed, except in the short term. It will return if you train it, and you'll have better endurance to complement it.

Your 200m PR already suggests you are lacking speed for the 400m. In fact, I'm surprised you can run 51.65 off a 24 and change 200m. If you really want to take your 400m abilities to the next level and break 50, you need to get your 200m under 24 seconds at the minimum, probably closer to 23 flat. To accomplish this, you need speed work.

Or, you could just become an 800m runner.

on my high school team it would be possible for hide in the woods on all the easy to just hide in the woods on all the easy runs (and people did this) and just run the workouts, which were usually 400-1000 repeats. (yes, we were awful. Its hard to imagine that this would be worse for your sprinting than sitting on your ass all fall.

Yeah we've only had 1 meet this year, I opened the season with a 24.55 and a 52.24.....it was pretty cold. That was my first time running the open 200m. I usually just run the 400 and the 4x400

You are an extremely rare species. A 400 runner who thinks they may like XC. Even 800 specialists dislike it.

so what are you planning to do during the summer and fall? sitting around on your ass will also ruin your track speed.

"Speedwork": acceleration work, drills, plyometric exercises, stengthening work, hill sprints, flying 30's... 40m sprints...etc...can all be done in compliment to endurance training.

We just started XC and I opened the season with a 21:30

I ended track season with pr's of 51.14 and a 6'1 High Jump (I hate the high jump....but they make me do it)

We've started the season with a bunch of base work and he said next week we will begin a little track work ( I believe he's using the Daniels Formula) My track coach said he would write up a plan for me to do if it was fine with the XC coach.

My question is can I go sub-50 with XC training?

Still HS Sophomore, did you fail 10th grade?

Yes, you can do all of the XC training with the XC team and go sub 50 if you do the speed work over the winter and spring.

No I didn't fail, I just thought it would be more convenient to keep my name. Class of 2012

re: "

my coach tells me that it will ruin my speed for track"

This discussion comes up all the time and it only requires a minimal amount of research to know the facts. Let me start by saying that I am not criticizing your coach because many years ago I use to hear the same thing about XC ruining your speed; a lot of coaches use think that if a girl ran distance her uterus would fall out...that was not true either.

The real deal:

Running XC will not make you faster and in fact regular XC training want even make you stronger for the 400m. In fact, you would run slower if you ran a sprit race during the XC season. What XC does is get you in excellent cardio shape to handle sprint workouts come indoor season, which is especially beneficial to athletes that are not doing another fall sport. The endurance you gain from XC will benefit you if you choose to move up to the 800/mile. There are sprint powerhouse schools where the kids run XC, but they also do sprint training during the XC season as well, like hill sprints/bounds, downhill running, plyometrics and weight lifting. – What I just said is based on my knowledge and experience; it does not mean I am absolutely right and that your coach is absolutely wrong; coaches have difference philosophies…I think if you run cross, it will benefit, but not running probably want hurt you either.

More importantly, as a talented long sprinter, you may be able to help your XC team and gain an appreciation for other track disciplines in the process. Btw, your sophomore sprint times are decent by national standards, but they don’t project scholarship or state champion, which is probably one of your goals; however, you do have good speed to be a very good H.S. middle distance athlete. Sprinting is so competitive in the U.S. that you need to run 10.7/low 22/48x just to get small school scholarship money. –Just giving you something to think about since you said XC seems like fun.

I loved XC, I was a 50.x, 1:57.xx and 16:25 guy. I was probably our number 1/2 runner for XC, best 800m guy, and anchored our 4x400m on a consistent basis with a team littered with sprint guys.

For what its worth, my high school had worthless sprinters, so we had a 4x4 composed entirely of XC men that could do like 3:20. Of course we would run hard quarters all cross country season (often ending with a few sub 60s), and even the occasional 200, so that might make a difference.

Someone who enjoys running wrote:

For what its worth, my high school had worthless sprinters, so we had a 4x4 composed entirely of XC men that could do like 3:20. Of course we would run hard quarters all cross country season (often ending with a few sub 60s), and even the occasional 200, so that might make a difference.

You had a 4x4 of cross country runners in high school that could run 3:20?

While not impossible, it seems unlikely as you would've had the fasted 4x4 in several weaker states.

*fastest