Understanding Recovery B/W 800m and 400m

a little but not much. under 2 seconds for the 800

Thanks for the reply! Let me make sure I understand. If the competitor runs the 800m at say 9am, then has to run the 400m against my son at 11am, you are saying he might lose under 2 seconds in the 400m? Maybe you were thinking about losing under 2 seconds in the 800m after running the 400m - I’m asking the reverse.

Just had a similar experience- expect the competitor to be about 0.5 seconds, maybe 1 second if you’re lucky- slower in the 400

It depends on how the race goes and how fit the competitor is. Some, usually the aerobic monster/endurance types, can handle doubles well while some might get worse the more events they run. If your son's competitor runs a really hard, negative split race then he will be more likely to do worse in the 4 than if the 8 is run tactically. Sorry if that's not the answer you wanted, but that's why it's just best for your son to focus on the things they can control than other competitors.

It depends a lot on how much time your competitor puts in on the roads and in the weight room.

In HS when I was running 20 mpw and didn’t have a good lifting program, if I ran an 800m all out and had to run 400m two hours later I’d be pretty worried. I remember splitting 55-56 in the 4x4 when I was in about 53-mid shape.

Now that I’m running a higher mileage and have good leg strength, 2 hours sounds like plenty of time and I think I could run within a second of my PB off of 2 hours.

Because of the variability, I wouldn’t “expect” anything, tell your son to bring his A game and if his competitor falls apart he’s gonna be a state champ. Good luck.

Wow, this is great stuff guys, thank you all. My son’s best 400 this season is .90 behind the competitor’s best this season. That’s a big gap he will have to close at state. My son will definitely be bringing his A game at state and I hope his competitor loses a bit on his best time due to the 800m he has to run before.

Agree with your points, especially that it also depends how you run it. I’d double 4x800 and 3200 often, and ironically ran my PR off this. However, I’d either go out hard for 300 to try to burn people (I’d slow down less), or jog and kick the last 200. If I were going all out I’d feel much more tired