Co-Worker Challenged Me to a 400

Your 5k/10k/half marathon PRs more or less have ZERO bearing on your 400m speed.

Assuming neither of you have much going in the quicks department, whichever one of you is fatter will lose.

Someone running 400 in 65 requires MUCH more aerobic support than running 46. So the person with the faster 5K time may very well win. Think more about high-level training for 800 than 400, because that's more like the aerobic/anaerobic mix you're looking at. Things like "Russian Intervals": 2-3 X 4 X 200 with 30sec to 1 min rest.

blast processing wrote:

Your 5k/10k/half marathon PRs more or less have ZERO bearing on your 400m speed.

Assuming neither of you have much going in the quicks department, whichever one of you is fatter will lose.

Fatter? Him, but both are relatively lean. To respond to a couple other posters:

- He has been out of training (i.e. literally close to zero running) for ~8yrs. So yes it will be me who is embarrassed if I lose.

- My 5k PR is 17:54 and I've never run a 5k in peaked or primed condition, so I can go sub-18, if just. He seemed to regularly be a ~17:2x sort of guy, so we're about 30s apart (when he is trained and in shape).

Here is a question. This thing is about 9 days away and I don't want it to interfere with my regular training too much. If I have the choice of spreading out ~3 time trials, 400m all out, over the next 9 days -or- doing 1 or 2 workouts, say 8x200 with full recovery, which would you recommend?

Be honest with him. Tell him you are too scared to race. If you can't bring yourself to that, use the Tanya Harding technique and you won't have to race.

Back when I couldn't break 18, I could run 54 low. Point being your distance times don't correlate with your sprint times. So, if neither of you know your 400 times it could be a very interesting race.

You should consider having your feet replaced with blades for this race.

The fact that this is a 400m and not something shorter definitely helps you in that odds are he will go out too fast and death march the final 100+m. If I were you, I would 100% go to the track this weekend and do a 400m time trial if for no other reason than to know how to pace yourself and see where you're at. Tack on some 200's to at least be used to running that fast and you should be good to go. Like I said...at 400m you are PROBABLY safe because at least you are in shape and the distance is just long enough that his legs might leave him 1/2 way through, but it's worth prepping somewhat just to make sure.

It's too late to actually do any conditioning for a 400. What you will be doing is building muscle memory for running that fast at this point. I suggest an all out 400 as soon as possible, and then 2-3 150s (build 50, all out 50, coast 50) every other day until the race as long as your legs feel fresh. You want to go in to the race with fresh feeling legs.

In terms of a race plan, DO NOT TAKE THE LEAD from the gun unless he is just really shitting the bed. Stick to his arm until 150 or 100 to go and then blow by him.

If you are fit, you should be able to at least stick close to him and use your fitness to beat him over 400 meters, even if he is technically "faster" than you.

you are going to lose.

the guy is not going to go out too fast.

he is going to sit on you and kick.

you have no chance.

He's probably a crossfitter, meaning he'll probably beat you by 15 meters and then bang out 200 pushups, and then bang your innocent bystander girlfriend.

OP, it is crucial that you employ "correct starting technique for distance runners" ie. left leg forward/right arm forward...or vice versa.

You should choose not to race.

Will this be on YouTube?

Either you want to win, or you don't.

If you want to win, forget about not wanting it to interfere with your regular training too much. You have your whole life to do your regular training.

If you want to win, suggest something like this:

8 days out: 600, 400, 300 full recovery

5 or 6 days out: 5 x 200 full recovery

2 or 3 days out: 4 x 150 with 250 jog with 150s at about what you think your 400 race pace is going to be.

The pace on the 300 or on the 200s will be about what you can hold for 400. Go hard but relaxed. Don't get injured!

Just easy distance the other days but not too long, maybe only 5 miles at the longest.

Let us know what training you ended up doing and how the training and race went. Good luck!

Is there a wager on the race? If not, I suggest you each put up $100 to make it "interesting"

will there be a live simulcast any where?

Race Planner wrote:

In terms of a race plan, DO NOT TAKE THE LEAD from the gun unless he is just really shitting the bed. Stick to his arm until 150 or 100 to go and then blow by him.

If you are fit, you should be able to at least stick close to him and use your fitness to beat him over 400 meters, even if he is technically "faster" than you.

I totally agree with a sit and kick strategy to a point, remember he probably knows that one and you don't want to let him drag you into a slower tactical race which allows him to close on you instead. I would make sure you are keeping the pace hard until that last 100 when you should blow him out. He is probably doing some prep work too.

This reminds me of a story I heard years back: A challenge on the trading floor at Goldman arose between a totally out of shape, mid 40's, very large ex-D1 lacrosse player, who had some wheels in his day. The challenger was a talented female Ivy distance star, who was interning that summer. The Distance was 100M, guess who won?

Just curious... wrote:

Will this be on YouTube?

^ THIS!!!!!!

You MUST have somebody get this on video and upload it to Youtube so we can see it.

Also, please post your training between now and then. Keep us posted, and let us know how each workout went.

We're rooting for you!

Yes please put a video of this on youtube, and then post it on this forum. I believe that you can beat your co-worker if he hasn't been running for ~8 years as thats a pretty long time and his fitness has probably deteriorated enough for you to beat him.