How to improve 400m over the summer?

work on your 200m. hill sprints, 50 meter reps, 80 meter reps, bench press, push press, chinups, core. The 400 meters is mostly fast twitch still, keep your gym workouts short and intense (one day a week you can do volume). things like sets of 8, decent rest between but get your workout done and get out of there, dont start pacing yourself and working endurance.

Do drills also, keep your form good. Track is the same as the gym, keep your workouts short. once a week you can do a speed endurance workout that takes up to an hour, but that has to be mostly rest or its mile training. Easy running is fine, but its not a replacement for sprinting. get sprinting, and lift lighter if you have to so it it doesnt mess up your form, but keep your reps explosive on the way up, controlled on the way down, and the sets brief and intense.

shouldnt have to say this but stretch after workouts, particurally if lifting too.

Why on earth are you doing "easy mileage" if you want to train for a sprint? That's not going to help you!

He'll probably be better off in the long run with it.

Wrong! You think any of the top 400m runners are doing 25 easy miles a week? It would decimate their speed!

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

He'll probably be better off in the long run with it.

400mlancer wrote:

Wrong! You think any of the top 400m runners are doing 25 easy miles a week? It would decimate their speed!

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

He'll probably be better off in the long run with it.

The fact that you think 20-25mpw, let alone any number of miles, will decimate speed is crazy. Miles don't hurt speed, not doing speed hurts speed. Being aerobically fit (to a point) will only making getting in the work he needs to be a faster 400m runner all the easier.

You kidding me? So you think that if a 400m runner ran 100 mile weeks it would help him at the 400m?? You don't think that would hurt his speed??

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

400mlancer wrote:

Wrong! You think any of the top 400m runners are doing 25 easy miles a week? It would decimate their speed!

The fact that you think 20-25mpw, let alone any number of miles, will decimate speed is crazy. Miles don't hurt speed, not doing speed hurts speed. Being aerobically fit (to a point) will only making getting in the work he needs to be a faster 400m runner all the easier.

Thanks for the advice. So is 1-2 speed workouts + a speed endurance workout every week good? I'll spread them out, just want to know as I'll make a general training plan for the next month and a half for myself to follow. I'm thinking two speed workouts because one would be short yet powerful hill sprints and the other would be in the grass or on the track for 50m reps.

We never really lifted for explosiveness in HS, but I think it's a good idea as it helps with the start. (And in general it's good to be more explosive on the track for your push-off).

I gotta start stretching more after workouts though, I kinda BS'd it the last years but I know it's important. Thanks again for the reply.

I've been doing it mainly just to keep general fitness. Also, it doesn't bother my knee. Throughout the season I felt like it held me back a little because every time I sprinted it hurt. Luckily, from about a month and a half of physical therapy it's been better and I can sprint without pain.

I understand the reasoning though that if I'm not training speed and just doing easy mileage, then I'll lose speed.

Ahh, I see you angrily rushed to reply without reading. I said "to a point." Obviously 100mpw is too much for a 400m runner. 20mpw on the other-hand is really pretty low but enough to give him a good baseline fitness level.

400mlancer wrote:

You kidding me?

So you think that if a 400m runner ran 100 mile weeks it would help him at the 400m?? You don't think that would hurt his speed??

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

The fact that you think 20-25mpw, let alone any number of miles, will decimate speed is crazy. Miles don't hurt speed, not doing speed hurts speed. Being aerobically fit (to a point) will only making getting in the work he needs to be a faster 400m runner all the easier.

Also, I know a guy who ran 22.8 for the 200m but only was running 53-54 on 4x4 relays.

Well he decided to get better, so he ran cross country that next year. Ran long runs, mile repeats, tempos, and some specific sprint work, and he went from ~53 on relays to 48.6 on the open 400m in just one season.

If you're a world class sprinter, then it might make some sense to not run miles (even though a lot of 400m guys do get up to 30-45 minute runs during their base phase), but if you're young and trying to improve, a few miles here and there mixed in with the right amount of quality will do wonders.

going from 53 to 48 by running cross country is not your normal result. For every guy who improves that much, theres another who gets injured, another who doesnt improve from long runs. I didnt improve my 400 from running cross country. Note I agree with you on ' to a point' a 20 minute run is fine for a 400 m runner. We were very endurance based in our training, even the intervals were mostly slow twitch targeting, 90 second 400s and the like. So I didnt get faster or slower either. Id say 15 miles per week is enough , 25 might not be worse but I dont see it being better unless its all fartleks or something.

to the OP 3 days a week is fine, sounds pretty good. once you get used to that you might add a day 4, optional. could also do bodyweight circuit conditioning on that day, cross train, walk or rest. Other than stretching keep a notebook or text document and make adjustments to your workouts based on how they go.

400 is not a distance, endurance race its a long drawn out sprint. So the Anaerobic system and speed must be maximized. Speed and distribution work must be prioritized aswell as some circuit training for the core etc.

Today I did 50m sprints with 5 mins recovery and then did some cross training in my pool. Took some time to stretch as well. Going to start to keep track of workouts too, other than that, thanks for your help!

I ran a 46 400 and 1:49 800 in college. My training was very low mileage.

Here's just some advice I'd thought I'd give to help you add to your plan:

- Do at least one of your speed workouts on the curve of the track. (40s, 50s, 60s, etc. Full recovery!)

-I recommend only two speed workouts a week, and spread apart from each other so you don't burn outyour Central Nervous System and risk injury, especially since you said you've had knee problems. (One on curve, one on straightaway/a hill)

- At least 1 longer Aerobic run a week. 30-45mins MAX!

- Core work! Cannot stress how underestimated this is to young athletes. Russian twists, planks, V-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, etc. are all good for general strength and to help you hold form. ALSO, try using your arms as if you were in a race with weights. Start with 5lbs dumbbells and do 3 sets of 20seconds and act as if you were running the last half of your 400. (Standing still of course and only using your arms if you didn't catch that...)

- Gym work. 3x a week is good. Like others have said, chin-ups bench press, squats(back, and 1 leg), lunges, hamstring curls, deadlifts, etc. are all good exercises. I had a two teammates get injured from the gym and one stopped running from it so don't go too heavy in the offseason.

-overdistance workouts. These help to build strength. 600s and even 800s are good. Wayde Van Niekerk said he hates the longer stuff but it helps.

Good luck!