Co-Worker Challenged Me to a 400

Good story. This thread has completely blown up. Thanks for all the encouragement (most of you). I am off running today, will do a few of the 1/6mi efforts tomorrow, have a 5k race scheduled on Sunday. Next week I think the only day I can make the track is Wednesday.

FWIW, my last track workout was a few weeks ago and did 10x(1/6 mile) with 1/6 mile jog ranging :46-:48, most were closer to the :46. I do Canova hill sprints (10-12s all-out up a steep hill) regularly, so hopefully that means I won't pull a hammy.

Another poster asked about age. I'm 32, I think the challenger is 34 +/- 1.

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I had a fat guy (AA) - 275 and 5'6" tall - challenge me to a race. I told him I'd only race him if he got down to 215. He was aas printer in high school.

Short story, he did a fantastic job of preparing himself. Took a long time to lose the weight but it turned his life around.

I was so proud of him that I cut him no slack at all and wiped the parking lot with him.

Hammered him over his chosen distance - which was the 60.

They all want a shot at the crown, but few have the head to carry it.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode, where Jerry won as Schoolboy in a magical fast time because he false started and no one noticed.

This thing has been pushed up to tomorrow AM. I ran 8 miles on Saturday w/ 4x(1/6mi) with 1/6mi jog in :44-:47-:46-:46. The first interval was pretty close to all-out. I did a hard 5k y'day in 17:45. I'm a little sore today, hopefully can recover for tomorrow.

I have confirmed stealth training as he told me he went to the gym this AM and got a treadmill that only goes to 12mph, so he had to ramp up the elevation.

One question: I did notice in my sprints on Saturday that my stride length really increased. It increased so much my turnover almost felt like it was slower, which seems incorrect. Should I suppress this stride length increase, if for no other reason than lowering my chances of injury?

I don't think you are going to be able to make any form changes in 24 hours. The general idea is to use something similar to the Pose Method when sprinting. You want your turnover to be as fast as possible, but you obviously need to increase stride length as much as possible without slowing your stride rate. Your foot strike should be under your center of gravity, so that you don't have any braking effect.

I would suggest buying a pair of spikes on your way home tonight. If you stay up on the spike plate the whole time, you might be able to pick up an extra second or two tomorrow.

Read up on 400m race strategy again, and try to visualize what you want to do in the race.

Drink a cup of coffee an hour before your race and be sure to do some strides during your warm-up.

Good Luck.

Tomorrow - holy moses! Keep in mind that sprinters often do some hard work in the days before racing, even the day before. So you're fine! Most importantly GO FOR THE WIN - DO NOT BACK DOWN!!! Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Luckily 12mph is only a 75. Besides, might just be trying to intimidate you.

I agree fatigue from the race won't really affect you. Reviewing 400m strategy and visualizing tonight is a good idea.

How did it get pushed up until tomorrow?

Good luck!

Is there a link to a free stream of this so we can watch it live? Skype video conference from trackside?

I wonder if psychologically in this instance it would be better to be in lane 1 or 2. If you start in lane 1, and pass him after the first turn he may start to panic and rig up trying to catch back up. If lane 2, he might go out way too fast trying to close the gap early. I think the fact that you are used to running hard (albeit slower pace than 400m) will be to your advantage in terms of staying relaxed at a higher speed. The more I think about this scenario, the more convinced I am that this dude will try to blast out of the start and have a very miserable final 150m in his future.

stay behind him the whole time, and try and outkick in the final 100

A 1/6th mile in 44 secs = 66 pace for 400m.

You :62

Co-worker :59 (ahead by about 15-20 yards if not timed)

Prediction Guy wrote:

A 1/6th mile in 44 secs = 66 pace for 400m.

You :62

Co-worker :59 (ahead by about 15-20 yards if not timed)

I'd be a little surprised if I can do that :62, I'd guess a good outcome for me is just the same speed as I ran that :44. It was hard.

I did get a little more color on his stealth training. Seems like he has been on the treadmill 3 times trying some high speed stuff. Even so, I don't think this guy was far below 5:00 for a mile ever (I'm thinking like 4:50 ish). Wouldn't :59 be pretty fast considering he is out of shape? Guess it doesn't matter, it'll be what it is. My only real concern is I am feeling my hamstrings from this weekends efforts, I really hope they are recovered by tomorrow. You guys psyched me out a little with this pulling a hamstring talk.

Sorry, no video feed. I'll provide a recap. It still feels a little surreal, hard to believe this event will actually happen.

Why can't you produce a video of this? If you are concerned about anonyminity, just have the camera holder back off a bit, and your faces will be obscured by pixelation. Here's your chance to be famous, and you're blowing it!

Is there a link to a live stream?

I guess the bottom line is there is no way to know how it will go because 400m and below can be very heavily influenced by talent which may not necessarily show up in distance race times (as mentioned). 59 is VERY doable, even for someone who is not in great shape, if they have even slightly better than average talent. Then again, he could come out and drop a 75 and you smoke him laughing running backwards. It is very possible he can beat you so you should approach it seriously tomorrow. Also, if he jumps out to a lead, even with you pushing early, don't panic...you will have speed endurance on your side. There's a high likelihood he falters drastically in the final 100m.

As previously stated by others, there is no kick in a 400, you simply try to survive and not decelerate too much over the final 100m. If it is a close race, prepare to see the face of God as you have an out of body experience trying to close it out. Your experience will help you maintain form down the home stretch which may be the deciding factor, because it really feels like your whole world is collapsing around you at that point and it's so hard to not give in.

not a sprinter wrote:

Sorry, no video feed. I'll provide a recap. It still feels a little surreal, hard to believe this event will actually happen.

Short version: race happened, I won in 66s with challenger coming in at 72s.

Slightly longer version: We did a short warm-up and I knew instantly this was not going to be much of a race. He was having trouble doing conversation at 9m/m. Our official timer bailed, so we lined up and timed ourselves (would have been a problem if the race were close). I offered him lane choice and he took 2, which I thought was weird. I was happy to have lane 1. This track (maybe all tracks?) have the 400m line start near the beginning of a turn. I had caught him around the end of that first turn, had a step or two on him coming into the first straight, and couldn't hear his footsteps much after that. I ran out the race in 66s, but never really had to go to my dark place. We didn't talk much about what happened on the drive back. I had hoped an ass kicking would make him angry and get him interested in running, but seems like it just cemented his retirement.

NICE JOB!! 400m is a lot longer than a lot of people on here think (relative to the fitness of a sedentary person), and your superior fitness easily overcame any talent he might have or might have had. I'm happy to see that you took all comers and prevailed like a champion.

Did you do the Centro throat slit when you crossed the line?

That sounds like the most likely outcome, glad it worked out for you. The chances of the guy being some secret talent were slim, so fortunately the better trained person won easily, which is the way it should have gone. I bet it crushed his spirits when you passed him coming out of the first turn. 72 is respectable for someone who has not been running much at all, so hopefully it lights a fire under him to keep it up.