Could I go from a 60 sec 400m to a 56 sec 400m in one year?

If you are a female, both your 400 & 800 are solid for a high school athlete. Stay positive and keep trying to improve. A high school female improving four seconds in one year is a challenge, 400m. One of my daughter's will be a sixteen year old high school senior. Some of her high school competitors will be 19 year old seniors. Your age and gender is more helpful than telling letsrun your school level.

I am 15 and a female. Thanks for your input!

60 seconds is very good for a 15 year old girl. What type of 200 meter speed do you have. I doubt that you'll hit 56 unless you have great speed. Can you run the 200 in 25 seconds?

coach wrote:

60 seconds is very good for a 15 year old girl. What type of 200 meter speed do you have. I doubt that you'll hit 56 unless you have great speed. Can you run the 200 in 25 seconds?

Sorry if I sound pessimistic, continue to set goals but work on your pure speed and power.

It’s fine, I understand. I can run a 26 sec 200. Thanks for helping. I’ll make sure to work on strength and speed.

sksarlin wrote:

It’s fine, I understand. I can run a 26 sec 200. Thanks for helping. I’ll make sure to work on strength and speed.

At your age and experience you run your first 200 about a second and a half slower than all out and your next 200 a second and a half slower than yuour first. Assuming you could run 26.5, you can run your first 200 in 28 and your next 200 in 29.5 and run the 400 in 57.5.

I improved from a 57 to a 53, and the next year to a 51. However, I’m a male and was a late bloomer. I’m going to run in college this upcoming season and want to break 50.

I think you should first focus on going sub 60. That can be done especially since you’re only 15. That’s a pretty solid time. After that, just decreasing your time is a bonus.

Do you run XC? I recommend trying it but asking your coach to make alternative workouts for you to build some strength.

This summer your goals should be to

1. Build endurance

2. Build strength

3. Maintain/gain speed (work on your 100/200m speed)

4. Stay healthy

Once a week, perform the following:

-Short explosive hill sprints w/ max recovery

-50m repeats w/ max recovery and good form(on the straight and the curve)

-long run to build endurance

(Obviously spread these days out so you can recover in between...)

I’d recommend doing some lifting. 2-3 times is perfect. Squatting, lunges, running arms with dumbbells, etc are some basic things you could try. Make sure your form is good and have someone look/spot you.

I also recommend core workouts as they help you that last 150m of your 400.

After a few weeks of this you could introduce some longer stuff like 80s/120s. Only a few reps but with good recovery as you don’t want to get lactic acid in the offseason.

If at ever you feel your body breaking down, take a day or two off! The last thing you want to do is set yourself back.

Good luck!

Shoot for 58 and then adjust your goal.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

OP, the D-3 male runner admitted to being a male. D-3 runner most likely got a natural boost in his T-level. His experience has absolutely nothing to do with your future track & field results. It's too late in the summer to consider joining a track club. I assume if you were in a track club you would have stated you were in a summer track club. Your 200m PB makes you fast enough to do summer sprint training with your high school football receivers and defensive backs. [I am assuming you are in the US.] D-3 advocates that you participate in XC. If 200/400 athletes participate in fall XC, do not log summer miles like the other Clydesdales. 7.5km to 15km summer runs will not make a sprinter a faster sprinter. If you do high school XC only do distance runs when/if you are directly ordered to by coaches. Do not go on summer runs with future XC teammates.

Those are great times for a 15 year old. As you improve it gets harder to drop time. What does a typical week in detail look like for you? Also pick up the book the Sprinter's Compendium. Additionally, the work of Austrialian sprint coach Mike Hurst. Should narrow things down for you greatly.

This is a good plan. I would also do some short sprints on a (slight) downhill to work on your turnover.

coach wrote:

60 seconds is very good for a 15 year old girl. What type of 200 meter speed do you have. I doubt that you'll hit 56 unless you have great speed. Can you run the 200 in 25 seconds?

No need for 25 speed to run a 56. Geez.

If you have done little or no strength training and/or have never trained for the event, YES.

WRT strength training, baye.com is a great resource.

sksarlin wrote:

...this past year my coaches wanted me to focus on the 800m, so I took part in less sprint workouts. I feel like this may have hurt my 400m time. In addition, my best time for the 800m is a 2:26, so I feel that I should focus more on the 400m.

Get your 800 down to 2:10-2:15 and you'll run be running sub-60. 2:26 is bad. You should be running much faster off a 60s 400. Your endurance is holding you back. Whoever directed your 800m training needs to be fired.

Speed Cushion wrote:

coach wrote:

60 seconds is very good for a 15 year old girl. What type of 200 meter speed do you have. I doubt that you'll hit 56 unless you have great speed. Can you run the 200 in 25 seconds?

No need for 25 speed to run a 56. Geez.

Were not discussing an adult, a HS kid doesn't have a highly developed aerobic engine and will run their first 200 a second and a half slower than their best 200 and their second 200 a second and a half slower than the first. You do the math, Geez.

Right, I had 24 speed, and only ran 56 but that was a fail. Should have run 53 with more specific endurance (150s, 100s, 80s). Skipping rope is something that hasnt been mentioned, which would be worthwhile for a 400 meter runner. Good warmup and cooldown from weight training. Apparently deadlifting with a hex aka trap bar improves sprinting the most for your average person. Also try split squats lunges romanian deadlifts, front squats etc, see what works and what you need to improve. For a girl things like arnold presses, front raises, lateral raises, lat pulldowns, bench and pullups etc might help extra, as the upper body needs to be strong for the 400.