Need workouts to improve 800m/400m time

actually i would have thought that 200-400m repeats would be good for 800m times

except you really shouldn't be going all out for your repeats. and 5 minutes is too long of a rest.

i think doing 8x400m at even paces, maybe 71-73 seconds, would be good for you. i'd also recommend doing some fast distance workouts with hills to build up your leg strength so you'll have more of that explosive fast-twitch power you're looking for.

as for breaks between the repeats, you should be jogging another 400m pretty lightly (7:30-8:30 pace) right after finishing the quarter. give yourself a minute after the jog and run another quarter, rinse and repeat.

on those same days you can do light weight training, as in lots and lots of reps but not super heavy. also do ab workouts.

800m is sort of an in-between body type, you need to be pretty built to go fast but those muscles have to be lean as hell. basically a quick distance guy.

the 8x400 workout is almost exactly what the distance team does, haha. Except today they did 8x800 with 400 slow jog (9-10 minute pace) in between.

As for the 200 and 400s, I can't control that. Our coach sometimes lets us have almost a full rest. Once he made us do 2 450's all out, with 8 minute walking rest in between... wtf... And we barely do any reps, not sure if i said it in my first post, but I did 2x400 and 3x300 today, all with ample rest, but all of them were almost all out. the first 2 400 times were 62 and 63, and I didn't get my 300 times.

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably do the 8x400 workout on a track over the weekend. Also, any tips for the 400? I kind of want to run sub 55 in it, which is looking reeeeaaaalllly grim since I have almost no speed at all...

4 x 500 & 300 3 min rest and 5 min rest respectively

150's w/ flying start 21.x

250's @ 37-38

600 @

repeat 200's @800 goal pace w/2min rest. Do 5-6 reps, once a week.

after a couple weeks, change to 2x300 w/3min rest, 2x200 w/1min rest. All @800 goal pace.

after a couple weeks, do 2x400 @800 pace w/4min rest, 2x200 w/1min rest.

You're better at the 400 than the 800. 58 should get you round two laps in 2.08 if you were better at the longer stuff

Maybe instead of going behind your coaches back this weekend you should just run with the distance team? those workouts are pretty intelligent for 400/800 runners but i don't think you have the natural speed so you'd probably be better moving up with the distance kids regardless

No. I moved down in the first place because I wasn't that great at distance workouts and I excelled in the 400/800 workouts that the distance team did. As soon as we did a ladder, say 600/800/1000/1200 and back down, I would suffer greatly on the 1000 and 1200. Whenever we did 400 and 800 workouts, I would usually (to my surprise) perform with the top group.

My coach was the one who moved me down to mid-distance in the first place. The old distance coach, who had gone away for 3 years, came back, and my coach (mid-distance coach) had been coaching long distance to fill in for him. Now that the old distance coach is back, the mid-distance coach can now form his mid-distance group.

And to respond to the other guy, my friend who runs a 53 in the 400 runs a 2:17 PR in the 800 (Though he has only run it twice).

That's not the case for a single person on my school's track team. There is literally not a single person, boy or girl, who has close to that correlation. There is a girl who runs both the 400 and 800. She runs 1:04 in the 400, and 2:40 in the 800. The best kid on the track team runs a 2:01 in the 800, and a 55 in the 400. Some other examples are a 55 in the 400, and a 2:13 in the 800. Nothing really correlates to what you said.

Crap runner wrote:

That's not the case for a single person on my school's track team. There is literally not a single person, boy or girl, who has close to that correlation. There is a girl who runs both the 400 and 800. She runs 1:04 in the 400, and 2:40 in the 800. The best kid on the track team runs a 2:01 in the 800, and a 55 in the 400. Some other examples are a 55 in the 400, and a 2:13 in the 800. Nothing really correlates to what you said.

He isn't that far off, 2:06-2:08 is very reasonable off of 58 400 ability. Of course the caveat is that it's for someone who is strong aerobically. Also, 55/2:01 is basically the same as 58/2:08. I'd venture to guess your 55/2:01 guy also runs in the neighborhood of 4:25-4:30 and 9:40 or so.

The biggest thing wrong with your 800 is your 400 time. 58 to 2.10 isn't a bad conversion.

You need 100-200 training.

I could suggest good 800 tempo workouts (eg 6 x 300 on 1 min recovery in 49-50 for you), or 400/800 ones, but you need speed more than anything else.

Speed and stamina are the basics for an 800 runner, and then you fine tune it with race pace stuff. But there isn't much point doing the race pace stuff if your speed and stamina are no good.

You're fast enough to run a 2:08 800 if you increase the aerobic component at your 800 pace. Some things you can do to train your aerobic system to run at 800 pace - which accounts for more than half the race - are series of 300's with short recovery, a couple of 600's with long recovery, and series of 200's. Take flying starts, except with the 600's, because you don't use the aerobic system for initial acceleration in a race.

To go faster than 2:08 you'll have to improve that 400 which means lots of short-sprint training.