What splits to aim for in open 800?? (Under 2:02)

29 you'll be near the back of the pack

59 (30) you will move up a few places

1:30 (31) push towards the lead

I believe you can break 2 minutes, so you need to close in a sub 30.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

29.0, 30.5, 30.5, 31.5

Well, I ran tonight. A 4x800 and open 800. Conditions were 45 degrees, 15 mph wind on homestretch. Ran a 2:06.3 4x800 and a 2:05.9 open 800. Splits for open 800 were 1:03.3, 1:02.6 roughly so negative splitted it. Definitely felt I could've went 2:03 or even 2:02 :(

The 4x800 is a disgrace to American track, it makes everyone double just for a measly few extra points.

Next time sandbag the 4x8 and start the real 800 fast. Any coach who makes a serious effort to win the 4x8 is a fool anyhow.

55 - 67

feel the burn baby.

With 400 PR's like that, you should be focusing on sub 2.

General rule of thumb I was taught in HS was a 2 second positive split. 59/61 will get you to that mark.

It sounds like you are still learning how to race it, and I was the same way. Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to race the 800 until conference meet of my senior year. I was hovering around the same marks as you as a junior.

Yeah dude, this is the first year I've ran open 8 more than 2 times so definitely trying to learn to run it near perfect. I'll try that 59/61 splitting at our home meet Monday. I'll return back with how I did and whatnot. Thanks to everybody else for the replies. Greatly appreciated.

when you're fresh, that 59 will feel a lot easier, but sub 2 might be jumping the gun just yet on your endurance. You might still need to do some strength work to be able to break 2.

I have only 4:50 mile speed (as of March 31st), so yes I might have to do some strength work. What would be some good things to do for more strength?

For anyone that cares still, I did get my time to 2:05.17 at conference along with a 53.10 open 400 time. In this time period, I also ran 4:40.98 in the 1600m. At districts, I ran 2:05.18 and 53.14. I qualified for state in the open 800 and missed it by one place in the 400. At state, on Saturday, I went out in 29, 31, 31, 32 and got a 2:03.09, so I am pretty happy since I have another chance to break 2 next year.

heying wrote:

For anyone that cares still, I did get my time to 2:05.17 at conference along with a 53.10 open 400 time. In this time period, I also ran 4:40.98 in the 1600m. At districts, I ran 2:05.18 and 53.14. I qualified for state in the open 800 and missed it by one place in the 400. At state, on Saturday, I went out in 29, 31, 31, 32 and got a 2:03.09, so I am pretty happy since I have another chance to break 2 next year.

If you're ever going to run a fast 800 you need to grow some balls and take the first lap out under 60.

With a 53 400 PR you should be doing this by now, but you have no balls. Even/negative split races aren't doing you any good.

149 guy wrote:

If you're ever going to run a fast 800 you need to grow some balls and take the first lap out under 60.

With a 53 400 PR you should be doing this by now, but you have no balls. Even/negative split races aren't doing you any good.

^^ This ^^

Nice job! You'll get sub 2 next year for sure. Run cross country and you will be looking at 51 ish, sub 2 and sub 4:20. Good luck and keep us posted!

I pissed it away this season, steve red. Ran 50.4 PR split in 4x400 and 51.17 PR in open 400. 1600s were 4:47 low, 4:47 high, 4:52...But in the open 800, I ran 2:05, 2:03, 2:01, 2:02, 2:00 PR, 2:04, 2:02, and then screwed up at state running 2:03. Only dipped under 2 in a 4x800 running 1:59 high. Really wanted my open to be sub 2 but sorry for the rant. Just wanted to check back on old threads I had posted last year.

heying wrote:

For anyone that cares still, I did get my time to 2:05.17 at conference along with a 53.10 open 400 time. In this time period, I also ran 4:40.98 in the 1600m. At districts, I ran 2:05.18 and 53.14. I qualified for state in the open 800 and missed it by one place in the 400. At state, on Saturday, I went out in 29, 31, 31, 32 and got a 2:03.09, so I am pretty happy since I have another chance to break 2 next year.

As other posters have said, you really need to take it out much faster if you want to go under 2:02.

Your times indicate you are much better at the 400 than the 1600, meaning you are more of a "speed" 800 runner than an "endurance" 800 runner. As such, you need to take it out harder than what most on this forum will tend to say. What I mean is that a 1600m/800m kid would usually go out in around 59/60 to hit that 2:02 benchmark, but you're probably better off opening up with a 58 or maybe even 57.

OP wrote:

50.4 PR split ...4:47 low, ... 2:01....

OP you are a sprinter. Forget about middle distance. If you were as good at 800 as 400 you'd be running 1:54. If you were also as good at 1600 you'd run well under 4:20.

sub 50 is a far higher bar than sub 2, and you're not far from it if you focus on 400.