400m Masters workouts

22/0.75=29.33

22/0.65=33.85

Nearly60 wrote:

I'm a bit confused that some of the articles I read are not matching up. How do you determined the %age seconds? For example at 70-80% pace, if I ran 31sec 200m then multiply by .70 equals 52sec. Is that correct? Is this means I run the 200m at 52-53sec?

31s/0.7=44s

31s/0.8=38.75s

As an elite master myself :)

Be fit! be strong!

If your on the track, then run fast with long recoveries!!! which should be twice a week

when older, we forget to focus on the damn speed :(

Thanks for the clarification!

Thanks for the very good insight, TheFastestMaster, and I will work on that "run fast with long recoveries" twice a week. What do you suggest or perhaps examples you do yourself for speed 2x wkly and how much recoveries for nearly age 60? I'm trying to be careful not to get injured again.

Find a coach that can evaluate your sprint form. Most distance guys don't understand how to maximize power output.

Hey, I saw your training program and I admire its simplicity. I was wondering if you could specify how the program is broken down in terms of days? I’m 37 and I have 6 weeks to get ready for a 400...

Masters016 wrote:

I am training for the 400m and run it in around 61-62 seconds and can't seem to break that barrier. I am in the M50-54 Age group. Can anyone provide any workouts and/or advice on how to improve my leg speed and cadence? I have a pretty good endurance base and have ran mostly 800m/1000m/1500m races in the past years.

I'm 20 years older than you, but I'm also an 800m runner who moved down to the 400m. I'm top five in the world indoors M70 right now, so some of this must be working.

1. Your 6x100m is way too slow and your rest is way too short. You should be running them at near your best 100m time. Rest should be 6-7 minutes between reps or even up to 8-10 minutes by the last couple of reps. Basically, I do a rolling start, but after that, it's 100% effort on each rep. I try to stay in mid-14s. You should probably try to stay in the mid-13s... faster if you can handle it.

2. A workout I do once a week in the last few weeks before big races is 2x200m (60 second recovery). Both 200s are done at near 100% effort. My goal is a combined time of under 60 seconds. I ran them today in 63.5 seconds.

3. Work on your cadence by purposely running some of your 250 or 300 intervals with a much faster cadence than normal. Don't worry about the time on high cadence reps. I alternate between normal and high cadence reps because the high cadence reps will really beat you up. I'll run one rep at normal 400m cadence for me (~205). Then, I'll run another at higher cadence (~220+). Then back to normal for the next rep. And so on.

I just reread your post and saw that you are running 10x100. I thought it was only 6.

I'd suggest you drop it to 6 and use longer recoveries as I suggested in my previous post.

I think when you run them all out, 6 is going to be a lot. Plus, you will feel it the next day.

I'm sorry, what do you mean by cadence and how do you measure it?

I assume he means shorten stride and turn over faster.

Great thread. I too am an old guy who has decided to train for the 400m with a goal of a sub 60 sec finish for my 60th birthday.

Lawliet wrote:

Hey, I saw your training program and I admire its simplicity. I was wondering if you could specify how the program is broken down in terms of days? I’m 37 and I have 6 weeks to get ready for a 400...

1 day longer run 25-35 min.

1 day hill repeats - Fisky mentioned cadence and I often do that here. A few with higher turnover shorter strides and some with longer stronger push off.

1 Rest day

2 easy days and/or 1 day of cross training. Just a few easy miles to shake out.

1 day of longer intervals with longer rest - some shorter intervals can be added at the end.

1 day of shorter faster intervals.

Every once in a while throw in a 300 or 350 Time trial.

You have to get out and race too, because nothing can really simulate that- start with a time and then determine and end goal to your season.

Good luck!

Cadence (turnover) is how many steps you take per minute. Sprinters (50-400m) have a much higher cadence than distance runners. Increasing cadence is very hard unless you do workouts/drills to train yourself to hold the faster cadence. Everything (central nervous system, muscles, tendons, even your arms) has to move faster. Short intervals (30-80m) and short hill sprints (10 seconds) train your muscles and CNS to move faster, but you also need to train these systems to stay as relaxed as possible while firing faster. That's what I do in the 3x3x200m workout I described earlier. I focus on increasing cadence WITHOUT SPEEDING UP over the last 70m of the interval.

Charles Allie (M65 WR in the 400 at 56.xx and just moved into M70) has a cadence of 240 in the 400m. I had a turnover of 205 when I started training for the 400. After a few months, it was 207. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a half second over 400m. I don't know my current cadence, but I'd bet it is now closer to 210.

Whatever your normal cadence is, unless you've been a sprinter all your life, you need to work on increasing it. There is a "sweet spot" after which the effort to maintain a higher cadence becomes a LOT more effort. For me, the sweet spot is 192, but I can hold >207 for a minute. My goal is 220.

Maintaining a faster cadence is very hard to do unless you train for it. After warming up, just try to jog at 240 cadence by shuffling your feet. It is very hard to maintain for more than a few seconds... unless you're a lifelong sprinter.

The other advice you've gotten here is great. Cadence is only a minor part of the equation, but since you're training anyway, you should also train to increase cadence.

Great stuff.

For example a 57.0 400 with a cadence of 211 total strides is an average of 3.7 strides per second. This depends on how long your stride is as well.

There is a distinction though in the length of your stride and the turnover rate. The stride length in faster stronger runners with more force off the ground is a bit longer and there have been many studies comparing stride rate to length.

In a 400m you do want to increase your cadence as you were saying- without unnaturally shortening your stride though.

If you get around the track in 202 strides in 57 you may be able to run 56.5 with the perhaps 203 strides. Per minute cadence for these times would be 207 in the case of the 57 and 214.5 in the case of the 56.5. The most steps are taken in the first 100 with the shorter strides. The last 100m as one is slowing down your cadence will also slow.

203 strides would be an average of about 6'5.5", at some point and probably on the back straight that stride length is at least 2m or about 1.5" longer.

Agree with what you are saying, but just want to point out you can also lengthen your stride along with a higher cadence. That is the real goal, at least for me.

240 per minute is extremely fast and many runners at this age will never be able to achieve that. Charles Allie is unreal. 4 strides a second!

Great article here on both stride frequency and stride length in a 400:

Van Nierkerk went from 3.98 strides per second to 3.50 over each 100m section. Michael Johnson had a much higher stride rate- 4.31 to 4.11 strides per second. 160 strides compared to MJ's 180.5 strides.

Even though Niekerk is shorter he had a longer stride.

Okay those are great info but how do you specifically measure your turnovers or cadence? What's the best way? Should I use pedometer?

Nearly60 wrote:

Okay those are great info but how do you specifically measure your turnovers or cadence? What's the best way? Should I use pedometer?

Easily, I do it all the time.

Run a 100 fast, you can count the second foot strike if you want. So if you start with left leg the right leg is stride 2. I am pretty good at counting every stride, but sometimes count up to 12 and repeat keeping track of each set...4 sets of 12 for example.

If it is easier for you, count by 2s. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10...as you cross the line and stop your watch just divide strides by seconds. 52 strides, 13 seconds =4 per second.

You can do this for 200 meters as well. I tend to lose count after that. You probably have a phone with calculator that will come in handy to help with accurate calculation. You have to run several to find your average stride per second rate for certain distances at certain paces.

Then you can start experimenting.

100's today. #3 was 13.55 and 51 strides. Foot squarely on the line. Ht, so take with a grain of salt, but overall accurate in the aggregate fro several 100s

#6 12.95 - 50 strides with back of heel touching the line at finish, so most of the foot was past it.

Strides per second: 3.763 p/s (13.55) and 3.8161 p/s (12.95). On a per minute comparison it is just under 6 strides per minute faster for the 12.95 100.

Something else was happening of course- the stride got longer. An average of 2m per stride for the 12.95. At least 1.5" per stride longer.

Lesson is both increase to a point as you create more force. I know I couldn't keep up 3.8 strides per second for more thatn maybe a half a lap.

Find what works for you.

Nearly60 wrote:

Okay those are great info but how do you specifically measure your turnovers or cadence? What's the best way? Should I use pedometer?

I just did a cadence count earlier this week. I suggest you set your watch countdown timer (or phone) for 30 seconds. I count every fourth step (every other left step). On my first two attempts, I counted 28. Double that to 56 and then multiply by 4 to get 224 steps per minute. After a rest, I counted 32. Double that to 64 and multiply by 4 to get 256 steps per minute. Obviously, this was a drill to increase cadence as high as possible. My normal 200m interval cadence is about 192.

Another way would be to download a metronome app, set it to your best guess as to your cadence, but don't start it. Run until you get settled into your normal cadence and then start the metronome. You can then increase the cadence in the app a beat or two in either direction until it's beating in time with your footstrike.

Set the metronome for every other footstrike. That is, set it at 90 to beep on every left foot strike to indicate 180 steps per minute. 91 would be 182 steps per minute, and so on.

Thanks to both Master123 and fisky. Great info. I'll give it a try and experiment. By the way, I did 400m race today at the meet w/time of 1:11.73 for the first time in the long time. Boy that was rough and tough!! I'm thinking I may just do 200m. The first 300m I thought was good until the last 100m my legs gave in and wasn't moving as fast as I wanted it. My breathing was fine but my legs....ughh! Any suggestion on 200m training? I'm having difficult time to find my nitch. How can one tell which ones best for you? Perhaps 800m?