Check my 400m Training Plan for this upcoming winter

Forgot to mention Day 2 and Day 4 for lifting with my coach usually varies. For example, back squat is most common but occasionally we do split squats and front. We have done various sorts of deadlifts. We also do inverse hamstring curls which I feel are good too. Makes me very sore actually haha, plyometrics are common too. We do 200 lunges in one session sometimes, and I'm just wondering what the benefit of that is? I feel like it's very taxing that's why I give myself so much easy days after lifting.

Looks pretty good...need more info.

1) How old are you? How have been progressing over the past few years? Your weight seems to be low for how tall you are, have you weights (power) been increasing?

2) What are your other PR's? Are you more of a strength 400m guy or a speed 400m guy? I know, kinda general, but it goes along with the PR thing.

3) What are your time goals this season?

I have a pretty extensive history training 10-18 year olds for the last 20 years. Once upon a time, I too was a 400m/400IH guy. Leave me some info and I will lend you some of my thoughts.

Thank you,

1) I'm 17 years old but by the time track season starts I will be 18. My progress over the course of HS: freshman year I had a 57, sophomore 53, (joined XC this year), and finally just this last year my last race I PRed at 51. I've done XC for 3 years and track for 4 basically. Unfortunately this year I had plantar fasciitis and a stress fracture so I missed my entire XC season. PRs in XC in case you were wondering aren't amazing but I did run 18:39 last year. Power wise I have been increasing but currently my squat max is stuck at 275. Hoping with training with my coach it'll go up because I want to squat double my weight.

2) 200m I've ran a 23.4 but this was a month before I ran 51 last year. So I'd think it would be a little lower when I was in 51 shape.

3) State is I believe 50.1 so running as close to 50 or under is definitely my goal.

Thanks for the quick response, 400IH is in my opinion probably the hardest event in the sport. I don't even want to imagine what the lactic feels like with that event haha

Bump.

I'm more of an 800m runner but occasionally I run the 4x4 relay. Your program looks good, but I'm not a coach. I suggest increasing your power with plyometrics and short sprints like you have. Just remember to never sacrifice form, I split a high 52.xx in the 4x4 which isn't as good as yours but it's decent where I live. Keep working, and remember to get at least 8 hours of sleep with training and try to maintain a good diet. Sleep and being in the middle of a growth spurt stalled me 2 years ago in the 800m. I went from 2:03 to splitting 1:59 in the 4x8 in sectionals the next year which I contribute to focusing more on getting enough sleep. I used to get 5-6 hours.

I also should add that core and flexibility are underestimated in my opinion. Core keeps you from falling apart and improving flexibility increases times as it gives you your full stride potential. Not much help, but like you I want to go to states.

Looks very good. If you would like some more ideas I would pick up the Sprinter's Compendium to fill in the gaps.

Looks great. You may want to switch day 1 with day 5. You always want to do speed work after a rest day.

Mike Hurst is a well renowned 400 coach. Instead of over distance work, he does overtime work. He thinks 400s and 500s in practice get you out of proper sprinting mechanics. So, instead he uses long hill sprints. If an athlete is a 50 second 400 runner, he has them sprint 50 seconds up a slight hill, jog back down, and sprint back up. I'm 50, so I only do one set followed by 4 x 50 meters with one minutes rest. He has his athletes rest 15 to 45 minutes and do another set of long hill sprints.

looks like I could have written that week for you. Well done.

The only suggestion I make is your lack of recovery. At your age you don't need every day work. Rest and recovery are important for a maturing body.

I would look long and hard at your weight days. Unless you have weakness, I'd pare that back. Even drop it. In the last 44 years since I ran 46 seconds, I have decided that the weight room is more of detriment than a benefit. Just like the comment from above about Mike Hurst (who I knew) who says he believed that 500's were a problem due to technique changes, I think you can over do things in other aspects of training. As an aside, 500's are not a problem to technique. There are plenty of ways to do them. Don't assume its balls out from the start. You need to man up in the 400 and 500s are a good, not too long way to learn to suffer. Ladders are good. I'd play with the recovery, more than the distance. I'd say 500 is fine, and not a lot of need to go to 600. And of course when you go up, you also go down. Back to 100.

My fav training distance was 300 m. The most important distance to a 400m runner. If you aren't in it at 300, you may as well step off the track. And no one gets faster over the last 100. You can do them sustained, with accelerations, with hammer segments. And then play with recovery.

If this is true winter training, and not just indoor prep, then you may think of cutting the pace down and concentrating on running efficiency and technique. And my issue with weights is that its a power to weight thing that's important. Heavy weights can mess up your body. And if you add 5 pounds of muscle, it doesn't mean you added enough power to compensate for the weight. And I also find that people in the wr tend to carry their arms a little low, and it cuts their speed and acceleration.

Have a look at today's page where they show the last 400 of the X country won by Knight. Look at the winner, look at the 3 guys in 3 - 5th. You can see my point. The position of the arms impacts knee lift, leg speed, and over all speed.

Thanks, I’ll have to check it out

Thank you for the reply. yeah when I was creating this I didn’t know when was the best day to put speed in. The only question I have is, if I perform the longer endurance/overtime work on the 5th day, does day 6 of speed endurance still work? I just don’t want to overdo anything as it’s starting to get cold and indoor track is approximately 12 weeks out. I like what Mike Hurst does with the “overtime work”. Thank you for sharing that. Do you think I should perform this every other week?

Thank you, the weight training with my coach is usually pretty taxing on legs. Typically one day has a lot of endurance type work, where we’re pumping out elevated split squats fast for a minute or performing a series of straight leg deadlifts. Other day is more focused on strength and heavier weight with low reps. I do agree that lifting can mess up your body, it’s nice to gain muscle but in the term for long sprinting I can see how you don’t have enough power to compensate. I may stick with a strength day and do upper body on my own.

46 seconds is very fast, do you have any suggestions on the types of ladders that seemed to work for you? Just not really sure what to add exactly. Playing with the recovery times I will definitely consider. I agree with what you said about the 300m, I too, enjoy that distance.

How hard should my workouts for speed endurance be at this point? I plan on increasing the pace and times as I approach January, as indoor track begins February. Thanks again for sharing, this post and others have been helpful.

Looks good for me too. You have the good basic tools needed there in a good order, I wouldn't switch the days . The 20min comfortable run is nice to see in the schedule too. But, I wouldn't do the push-ups every day. Maybe some "easy" 100-200m hills/200m repeats on track (emphasizing volume, active recovery) too sometimes, in the over-distance day.

Okeydokey is right. You could do a lot more work at your age. You could do the long hills on day 2 or 3 and still do another speed day on day 5.

Supposedly, Jim Bush coached more 46 second 400 runners than anyone, and he said that any day a 400 runner wants to do hills let them. It's perfect training for the event.

Google: Mike Hurst 400m training

It should pull up an article and pdf of his weekly setups.

400 is as much a mental / discipline exercise as it is a physical one.

It is a slog, and an event where you go very deep. That means you need to properly recover. I once ran 10 races over the long weekend at the nationals, and it was more of a mental than physical exercise. I'd rather be fresh and potentially a little under done, than the opposite.

My mental place was ensuring my technique was efficient and effective, and I tried to run my body from a space in my head. Certain parts of the track are good for certain types of workouts. I worked on my breathing and rhythm when running the back straights, as that was when I'd come out and pay attention in a race. I liked to think I was driving my body, so I disconnected my head from my arms and legs and ran them like I was riding a horse. I'd check my position, my effort, my toes, how hard I was hitting the ground, where the wind was and what it was doing for me or to me. Yep I sound like a nut to many, but the 400 is a long way at close to maximum effort, and I was not a natural 400 guy.

You also have to be patient. Even when you train, not every part of you comes into shape at the same time. The last thing that happened for me was foot placement. When that came around I was smooth and faster.

The key to being a successful 400 runner is to not over tax your technique when training, and getting faster. Always run in your form position. If you feel your form falling apart, ease off until you get it together. You need to groove your body into form that allows you to go full effort without falling apart.

I'd finish the nationals, take a 2 week break, and then start with my winter training as if I had never run. Technique and base, even though I could run as fast or faster than at season end. Its a journey. At your age you need to remember that you will get stronger and faster just by getting older. Its why over training in high school can be more of a risk than a benefit. Training high schoolers is easy. When I did coach them the key for me was not making them faster, but stopping them from getting hurt. Of course they got faster, but you find it hard to improve on the trainer's table. And making the understand what they are doing on the track. Learning to run, to race, and to handle adversity inside a race and out. Good luck in your racing and have patience.