I have been asked to pace a friend this weekend in an open 800. I need to go through the 400 in 60 seconds. Could anyone suggest a good workout to sharpen my speed up at the last minute? Would it be best to go out and run a 300 at sub-45? Or do 4 x 200 in 28-29? Thanks for any help.
is this a serious question??
Yes it is serious. I forgot to say that I'm female!!!!
It would be best to tell your friend that you don't know if you can do the job and that he should find someone else. I mean maybe you can run a 60, but it seems like you doubt yourself so that gives me reason to believe that you probably won't. I'm sure he can find someone who can do the job, but you shouldn't agree to it if you don't know that you can do it.
we need to see some pics to determine if you are fast enough to run 60 flat
hardy har haaarrrrr...
Too late to do any sharpening, so I suggest just getting laid real good the night before.
The reason to NOT do a 45 second 300 (assuming this is close to your race pace for 400) within a few days of the race is that this is a high lactate workout (yes, even if you do just one at race pace) and you might not be recoverred from the muscle damage by the weekend. This is the same reason why an 800 runner does NOT do a 600m trial within 1 week of a race.
A much safer route would be 4 X 200 at 90%, 95%, 100%, 100% (i.e. each one progressively faster) with 10-15 minute rest. This can build some speed but is much easier to recover. You might just do 3 of these if you're running close to max on the weekend.
be sure to communicate well with your friend about your plans as the rabbit. is this a big race, or will it mostly be your friend going for a fast time alone? will you need to run the 1st 100 around 13 seconds to get into the lead, or can you go out in 14.5 and ease into the lead?
in the race itself, you want to do your very best to hit the 200 around 0.5-1.0 seconds ahead of your friend's goal pace. much faster or slower than that can really screw things up. if you do that and you are exhausted, just push really hard through 300 and ease off the track (to the inside!!!) on the homestretch. make sure your friend knows that you will be exiting the track to the inside so she doesn't run on your inside.
as for the workout, i'd focus on running multiple 200s in your goal pace. you want to be as locked into that feeling as possible.