Have you ever went ALL-OUT from 400 meters out?

All the time. I use this strategy nearly every time I run the 400m.

LC wrote:

All the time. I use this strategy nearly every time I run the 400m.

nice

LC wrote:

All the time. I use this strategy nearly every time I run the 400m.

Sorry. There is no bell ringing at the start of a 400 meter dash.

I was responding to the question "Have you ever went ALL-OUT from 400 meters out?"

I did it in a 1600m race in high school, only I started 100m earlier than the question asks.

I led until 150m to go and was passed by the winner, so I finished second. Couldn't drop the guy.

jman1 wrote:

I did it in a 1600m race in high school, only I started 100m earlier than the question asks.

I led until 150m to go and was passed by the winner, so I finished second. Couldn't drop the guy.

This is why you don't do it that way.

Funny, how distance runners talk about running 400 all-out and not leaving anything in the tank, but Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards won't. A pure 400--and for people training for it--is run fastest by running the first half about 2 seconds slower than your best 200 time. A distance runner that has already run 3 (or 24) laps and lacking the anaerobic reserve of a sprinter has to be even more conservative about not going too hard too soon.

I don't think people will properly understand this question and we'll get a lot of replies of people saying they always kick with one to go. To actually be all out sprinting at 400m out is different, and usually ends very badly. You can only sprint all out at full power for upwards of 100m, so doing it from 400m is going to be rough.

I did it once in an xc race. I'm not exactly sure how far out I was, but I'd guess about 400-500m. I wanted to win so badly that I tried to go with a guy (who eventually won) even though I was pretty sure I couldn't hold it. After about 20-30 seconds of that, my legs kind of shut down and I collapsed. I got back up and managed to finish the last 250m all out at probably 7:00 pace.

I've been 95% all out with 400m to go. It's amazing how much that 5% difference can make.

"Have you ever went ALL-OUT from 400 meters out?"

No, but I have GONE all-out before.

English. Ain't it great?

Coach D wrote:

A pure 400--and for people training for it--is run fastest by running the first half about 2 seconds slower than your best 200 time.

Well, that probably works for some, but certainly not for all. The East Germans, who had some pretty decent 400m runners BITD, recommended going through the 200 within a half-second of one's PR for that distance!