400m repeats

[deadshot138]

Reading a lot about these being good for conditioning. My question is, are these truly "sprints" or just fast running? I can't imagine going balls to the wall for a quarter mile and being able to recover enough to repeat it several times. It can't be 100% sprinting, more like 70-80% effort. Anyone have any input?

 

[gspieler]

It's fast running. A true sprint can't last 400m. Still a great tool for anaerobic conditioning, if you do them intense enough. I'd aim for an RPE in the 8-9 range.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

middle distance sprints are fantastic for general conditioning. Your lifting will take a hit at first though

 

[Rigg9]

They are one of my favorite conditioning tools. I normally jog the first one and add pick it up a little each time. I try to fully recover between each one and set a goal of like 4 and run them at a pace where I get all 4. But the last one I push myself real hard to try to break the conditioning threshold. If I'm just getting back into running I'll run 200m runs twice a week before bumping it to 400's

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

 

[wufabufa]

Man 400m seems like one of the most dreadful things to train for. Can't be easy. Not that anything at that level is easy, but that looks much more difficult compared to 100m.

 

[gspieler]

Man 400m seems like one of the most dreadful things to train for. Can't be easy. Not that anything at that level is easy, but that looks much more difficult compared to 100m.

The 400m is significantly more dreadful than the 100m, IMO. A runner's blood pH levels will actually change, slightly. Muscles stiffen and cramp. Plus the mental challenge of going at near-100% for 400m(vs 100% for 100m).

 

[560ti]

Reading a lot about these being good for conditioning. My question is, are these truly "sprints" or just fast running? I can't imagine going balls to the wall for a quarter mile and being able to recover enough to repeat it several times. It can't be 100% sprinting, more like 70-80% effort. Anyone have any input?

It's fast running. A true sprint can't last 400m. Still a great tool for anaerobic conditioning, if you do them intense enough. I'd aim for an RPE in the 8-9 range.

Every former track athlete I have encountered over the years label it as a long Sprint. Way back in the day it used to be called the 400 m run but was switched to the 400 m dash when it became apparent that nobody was really setting a differential pace during the 400 or doing splits it for the most part especially competitively pretty much full effort. It's a tricky one because you're just at the point where you're breaking the oxygen/ lactic acid barrier. For most athletes it's right around the 300 m mark for lactic breaking point and 40 to 45 second mark for oxygen. Last 100 is basically heart and guts.

Back when I used to compete in MMA we used to do 400 m for 5 to 7 sets and the goal was to break 60 seconds each 400. Amazing conditioning tool but God did I feel like I was going to die.

800 m is arguably just as tricky. When I use to train with these potential college prospects that were pretty good at the 400 (46 to 48 range) they would experiment with the 800 but had tons of issues. Telling an upper 40s guy that you have to get it to about 56 second pace but do it for twice the distance was quite the gut punch

 

[TheToneZone]

400m is great. Depends on how you define sprint but for most people I'd call it more of a max effort fast run.

Personally I say you're not sprinting anymore once you get negative acceleration, so 400m isn't a sprint for most people because you'll slow down a little bit but it's not really important to define it since it is such a good workout!

It's very useful and effective for speed and conditioning!

I really like long distance runs + 400m workouts for running training. With those two workouts you can make lots of progress.

300m is really good too.

I think a 3:1 rest:work ratio is good for 400m. Anywhere from 2:1 or 4:1 depending on your fitness and goals.

I like to do a few 400m repeats, then some 300m, then a few 50m. It's a nice speed workout. I'm not a speed guy so it's probably not optimal if you're trying to be a competitive sprinter but for my running speed (I'm a distance guy) it works well for me.

 

[WadeWatts]

I use repeats for basically all my training. I do 10 x 500m runs with small circuits in between. So run 500m typically in about 2:30 then go directly into 15 KB swings then 15 push ups right back into a 500m run for a total of 10 rounds. Takes about 35 mins and I get a 5K run in with 150 swings and 150 push ups. I do this with the rowing machine too and different variations of circuits.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

They are a managed sprint.

 

[wolffanghameha]

Depends how you do them and what you're using them for.
You can pretty much sprint them all out. This is by getting up to speed the first 50m or so, then you cruise for a while with fast legs but not lots of arm motion, about 200m in the arms start moving more, then you kick/drive the last 150m or so, depending on how long you can sustain a kick for. You can look up 400m technique.
Nornally the last 100m is slower, even though you're pushing hard and might even feel like youre going quicker. Eg it might be something like 12.67, 12.01, 12.34 and 13.89 for each 100m. Not sure if those are fully realistic numbers, but the second 100m is the fastest for top 400m runners.

If you're training for all out 400m speed the recovery will be very long, like 10+ minutes. Otherwise the subsequent repeats won't be full speed any more.

If you're training to improve your conditioning for a longer duration event, eg for a 1500m, a 5k, then you normally run them slower and with less recovery.
Like if your 5k time you're aiming for is 20 minutes, then you do like 10 400m repeats at race pace ((20*60)*400/5000) or maybe a tiny bit quicker and with less rest, maybe as much rest time as the repeats take eg if the repeat was 90 seconds rest for 80 seconds. Each repeat should be the same speed. Although for a 5k longer repeats like 800m or 1k repeats are probably better.

I'm no expert, but maybe this helps.

Or you could run them all out with a few minutes rest, but then obviously they'll get progressively slower, because you won't recover in between (how fast u recover depends on your aerobic fitness, assuming your muscles are already conditioned enough for the workout).