Anyone run 400m sprints for conditioning?
I ran 4 x 400m (with about a 90 sec rest between runs) and felt my lungs were about to come up yesterday
how long did you take to do each 400m?
i do 400’s 1x per week, anywhere from 4-7. great for helping your running, you should try and run them all at the same near max pace if your doing it to improve your running.
My friend and I discussed 400 meter repeats last week. They are the most grueling sprints one can do. It literally feels like I’m carrying a fucking piano on my back for the last 100 meters.
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
My friend and I discussed 400 meter repeats last week. They are the most grueling sprints one can do. It literally feels like I’m carrying a fucking piano on my back for the last 100 meters. [/quote]
I’ve heard the same thing - about carrying a piano the last 100 meters. I imagine a bear, sitting on top of my back, grinning and eating something. That %# Bear!
Not really, 400’s are 57% anaerobic, 43% aerobic. Try 300’s if you really wish to die…
I see your point, but one of the strategies in running 400 meters–the one I use in my own training–is to run all out for the whole thing, so naturally the last 100 meters is going to feel like hell. You can also run all four 100 meter-segments evenly or pace yourself in the beginning and finish stronger at the end. I don’t compete in track and never will, so I don’t see a need to use the others.
i haven’t run 400m sprints since i ran track in high school, but i can attest to them being both a great conditioning tool and totally painful. when i used to do them we always did them at a dead sprint the whole distance.
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
I see your point, but one of the strategies in running 400 meters–the one I use in my own training–is to run all out for the whole thing, so naturally the last 100 meters is going to feel like hell. You can also run all four 100 meter-segments evenly or pace yourself in the beginning and finish stronger at the end. I don’t compete in track and never will, so I don’t see a need to use the others. [/quote]
lol @ all out, no wonder why the last 100m feels even worse then it normally does! SICK mate, SICK.
They are high speed tempo runs after the initial 50m pick up around the bend mate. It’s all about running relax and holding form and trying to hang on for the last 80M.
But yes running it your method would be ridiculously tough! 4x 400m that you went ALL OUT. You’d have blown up around about 120-150M tops and then you have the rest to just hang on for dear life!
Koing
There’s a track near my house and I’ll do a couple of 400ms. I take close to 1:45 to do the best one!
400’s are the absolute worst! I whole heartedly believe it is the worst distance. When I ran track my senior year in highschool I was part of the 4x400 relay. My coach wanted me to run that and the open 400 but I fell running the 110 high hurdles that meet so opted out of the open 4 and he never asked me to do it again!
they are so bad… my fastest time in highschool was :53… but that was 40-50 pounds ago lol. I havent ran a timed 400 since then (did a few during a phase of sprinting I was doing but never actually timed the runs that I can remember)
.greg.
If this thread picks up and people start posting some times I might try running/timing one and post it…
.greg.
First time I ran 400m was at an outdoor track meet.
I’d never done it before.
I felt like I was going to shit myself halfway thru.
I didn’t 
[quote]gregron wrote:
If this thread picks up and people start posting some times I might try running/timing one and post it…
.greg.[/quote]
Im in!
Was on the 4 x 400 relay team in high school, I can’t remember our times, but we would run individual 400’s in practice, two of us could run them in 51 seconds and one in 53 an the other in 54. I also ran the 800, and I thought it was much worse than the 400.
My best time in the 400 was 51 seconds and my best time in the 800 was 1:58. I puked at the end… I also never practiced the 800 so I would say that a flat out 400 is a good conditioning tool. Now I am curious, I’ll have to go up to the track and see how fast I can do one. 21 years later…
400m sprints are pretty damn brutal. If you have access to it, try a 500m rowing machine. It’s a very similar experience haha. I got around 1:32 after a leg workout the first time I did it last week. Anyone else ever done this rowing sprint? I’d like to know how if my time was any good.
theres a thread in this forum about rowing… C2 Rowing something or other its callled… people talk about rowing times and stuff like that. I did a 500m sprint after my leg workout two weeks ago and got 1:36 with the damper set to 10. I think the world record is 1:17.
Yeah we should get some posted 400m times up in here. I’ve gotta find a track somewhere by my house
.greg.
Getting 400m times posted would be good for some motivation and friendly competition. Maybe it would motivate some people who have never done 400m sprints to try them out.
like you greg, i haven’t run a 400 since high school (4 years out). PR was 53. if you all thought the open 400 was bad, how about the 400 with hurdles. always went into oxygen debt during the last 75m…saw more and more black as i got closer to the finish line. but i can’t complain about track, i don’t think i’ve been in as good shape ever since.
I started this thread and I’m impressed by the number of people who still run them. When asked about weight loss and cardio, I usually respond by asking them in return- “how fast and efficient do you want your cardio to be? Do you want to spend an hour on the treadmill or 4 minutes doing 3-4 400 meters instead”?
[quote]joeymotts wrote:
like you greg, i haven’t run a 400 since high school (4 years out). PR was 53. if you all thought the open 400 was bad, how about the 400 with hurdles. always went into oxygen debt during the last 75m…saw more and more black as i got closer to the finish line. but i can’t complain about track, i don’t think i’ve been in as good shape ever since. [/quote]
where did you run track that you had 400M hurdles? Her in California the longest hurdle was 330 I think? Yeah Im gonna have to get out there and try running some more 400’s and see how miserable they are
.greg.