10x400 elite vs high schooler

How do you only run 20 mpw. I get that in and I do 2-3 miles a day and am old.

There are lots of inexperienced athletes who can rip fast 400s in a workout but couldn't string them together if their life depended on it. Young athletes often develop the physical ability to run fast before they develop racing maturity. Elite athletes are much better than young athletes at getting as much as they can out of their body in races.

Answer the question you geezer.

The Animal Within wrote:

How do you only run 20 mpw. I get that in and I do 2-3 miles a day and am old.

bigtool05 wrote:

There are lots of inexperienced athletes who can rip fast 400s in a workout but couldn't string them together if their life depended on it. Young athletes often develop the physical ability to run fast before they develop racing maturity. Elite athletes are much better than young athletes at getting as much as they can out of their body in races.

This might be correct but with the same logic the elite should be better at getting most out of their body in workouts. So the question is not answered yet.

I actually believe from my own experience that the hs boy is more likely to hold the pace in a race because he is certainly not rested with 1min recovery. The elite however is running each rep quite fresh due to his recovering abilities.

That is the reason why a predictor session for elites might be 10-12x 400, but for the high schooler only 8-10x 400 based on my own experience. I even know a 400/800 runner whose predictor session is more likely 6x400 for a 1500 race.

Guess who wrote:

bigtool05 wrote:

There are lots of inexperienced athletes who can rip fast 400s in a workout but couldn't string them together if their life depended on it. Young athletes often develop the physical ability to run fast before they develop racing maturity. Elite athletes are much better than young athletes at getting as much as they can out of their body in races.

This might be correct but with the same logic the elite should be better at getting most out of their body in workouts. So the question is not answered yet.

What I was trying to get at is that it's easier and takes less practice to get the most out of your body in 400 repeats than it does in a race. I don't think it's that hard for a high schooler to just put their head down, stick on their teammates, and just run hard for a little over a minute. They'll keep doing it until their legs give out or you tell them to stop. But ask them to do that for 4 laps straight, no rest, and they fall apart. The lactate starts building up and they start slowing down without even realizing it. Their brain just hasn't yet learned to reach that level of pain and just keep going. That's certainly my experience at least. It took me a couple years before I really learned how to push through the pain in the latter stages of a race.

not an entirely direct answer but some food for thought. some years ago I knew a guy who ran a usatf qualifier and he said his best that year (for 10x400) was a 59high average, with 1min standing rest. I remember being surprised/enlightened to learn this as I had spoke with Irv Ray several years before, where Ray told me about Ryan Hall doing 12x400 in 57.5 average, with the same 1min standing rest. Hall only ran 3:42 (my friend ran a few ticks faster) that year, though he was probably doing high mileage, not 20-30mpw, like the OP asked about. just food for thought. oh, and my buddy was doing typical 75-80mpw as a miler.