How to Train the 400-800 Group?

First of all, this group makes no sense.

400 runners are sprinters. 800 runners, in high school, are hybrids but usually fast cross country runners.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you remember a kid that ran for you back in the day who was fast in the 400 AND 800 who was NOT a sprinter and NOT a cross country runner. Stop it! Stop searching for exceptions. We coach groups of kids and we must look for common threads of training.

Let me tell you a story.

On the night of May 26, 2006, I coached my final race in Tennessee. Going into the 2006 season, my team, the Franklin Rebels, had a chance to be one of the best teams I’ve ever coached. We had four guys who would eventually run college track at Auburn, Wake Forest, Tennessee, and Memphis. My best sprinter would eventually play wide receiver at the University of Tennessee. Early-season team rankings in Tennessee would have ranked us #1.

During the summer of 2005, I was promised the head track job at a brand new high school, Plainfield North. I would have to wait one year for a Chemistry job to open up. I knew my 2006 track season would have a strange feel to it.

The 4×4 on that hot evening in May of 2006 ended a season I would like to forget.

The parents of my best returner (47.99 in the 400) decided 47.99 wasn’t good enough so they had him train all season in a Clyde Hart program administered by his AAU coach (never broke 50.00 his senior year). My freaky horizontal jumper had knee surgery. Trey Hardison may have eventually gone 24′ and 49′ (pictured below at Vanderbilt).

At the 2006 state meet, my anchor left early in the 4×2 and we were disqualified. Ouch.

My 4×1 had a chance to win it all, but 6’5″ Deontrey “Redbone” Sisk broke his foot during the two-leg and limped a 11.69 split (stress fracture). We went from a hopeful 4×1 state champion to a heartbreaking 7th place. To add insult to injury, Sisk was scheduled to run in the 4×4 as well.

We had two options to replace Deontrey Sisk in the 4×4. We could have gone with a sophomore, Trey Miller, who had run 54.3 earlier in the season. We also had Todd Campbell. Todd was sub 11.00 and sub 22.00 but had never run a 400 in his life. As a product of *Feed the Cats*, Todd had never run more than a 200 in practice, never run a lap. Todd Campbell (only a junior) had told me a couple days prior that he was graduating early to play spring football at Tennessee.

So, what do you do about the 4×4? Play it safe with your 5th best quarter-miler, or go to your sprinter who had never run a lap?

“Todd, we need you for the 4×4.”

“But cccoooaaaccchhh… I’ve NEVER run a 400.”

“l know, that’s why you’re running anchor.”

Todd Campbell ran 49.3.

Everything went wrong that could go wrong in 2006, but we still limped to a 12th place team finish in the state of Tennessee. I truly believed we would win the TSSAA State Championship that year. Oh well.

Back to Todd Campbell. This exact scene has played out hundreds of times in the history of track. Vince Anderson (Texas AM) told almost the exact same story at TFC-10 in Chicago last December.

Sprinters are good at the 400.

Train 400 runners as sprinters.

I believe this to be true…

A 54.00 quarter miler can run a 25.00 200m.
A 52.00 quarter miler can run a 24.00 200m.
A 50.00 quarter miler can run a 23.00 200m.
A 48.00 quarter miler can run a 22.00 200m.
A 46.00 quarter miler can run a 21.00 200m.

Why is the 400m world record 43.03? Because, following this formula, you have to be able to run 19.50 in the 200m to run 43.00 in the 400. Usain Bolt won 200m gold at Rio running 19.78. The world record is 19.19 (Bolt).

Was it a miracle that Todd Campbell ran a 49.3 in his first ever 4×4? No, because Todd was capable of running a 48.0 (22.0 x 2 +4). Speed reserve creates endurance. ENDURANCE NEVER CREATES SPEED.

IF YOU CATEGORIZE THE 400 AS “MIDDLE DISTANCE”, YOU WILL NEVER IMPROVE SPEED

“If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither.” The two rabbits are speed and endurance.

Before I get blowback from arrogant college and professional coaches, this is important… high school kids are not at their genetic ceiling for speed. Some of them have NEVER SPRINTED in their entire life, just tons of “running”. Let’s define sprinting… 1) spiked-up 2) timed 3) recorded 4) ranked 5) published.

High school coaches MUST PRIORITIZE SPEED in the 400. If not, they will hardwire the mechanics of endurance.

College coaches will often focus on things other than speed because they recruit the fastest kids in the country. Find a kid that runs 46.50 in high school and train him however you want. He’s probably going to be pretty good in four years. If not, throw him away and recruit another. Welcome to big-time track.

Here’s an overview of my 400 training. It’s basically this. Three types of workouts… Speed, X-Factor, and Lactate. Prioritize rest. This week we will go Lactate-X-S-X-OFF-MEET. If my sprinters are not doing a lactate workout or a meet, we never do anything sub-max, nothing for more than five seconds.

WHAT ABOUT THE 400-800 RUNNER?

Here are my thoughts.

Don’t ever try turn a cat into a dog. In other words, don’t take that kid who can run 23 in 200 and 50 in the 400 and send him on 10 mile runs to transition him to the 4×8. No cool downs. No mindless “tempo running”. Keep him fast and fresh. (And stop recruiting him to your cross country team… he’s a cat for God’s sake!)

“But we need Billy to run our 4×8, we have three really good half-milers!”

I understand this. In 1998, I had three good 800 guys (1:55, 1:57, 1:58). Clint Simpson (now Dr. Clint Simpson) was my only option. However, Clint was a star football player, not a cross country guy. Clint ran 48.9 in the 4×4. Clint bench-pressed 315 pounds. To make a long story short, we did the best we could without tamping down Clint’s speed. The 800 always sucked for Clint Simpson, but he ran 1:59.7, without endurance training.

If you must have your cat fill a spot in the 4×8, you can do it. However, accept the fact that it will never be a fun race for that kid. When cats run the 800, there’s going to be hours of severe pre-race dread, 30-40 seconds of late-race intense pain, followed by 30 minutes of hating their life. (Suggestion, never do this unless there are big rewards. If your 4×8 team sucks, you don’t need a fourth runner.)

Get your cat ready for the 800 by extending his lactate workouts. (Or leave him alone and let him be a cat. Maybe stop pounding square pegs into round holes!)

I would NOT increase the frequency of lactate workouts. (We try to do two lactate sessions per week if healthy. And, meets are considered lactate workouts. Both are “code red” on our practice schedule.)

Instead of our normal 4×4 Predictor (3×200, 3-4 minute rest, run-in start, add times, x.67, add 2 sec), I would do the 800 Predictor for that kid (4×200, one 1-2 minute rest, run-in start, add 5 sec). And, I would do it TWICE, not once.

Instead of the normal 23 Second Drill, I would have the 800 cat do it four times, not two. Each time, the distance goal is to come within five meters of the first and fastest 23-second run. Remember, rest time for the 23-Second Drill is 8-10 minutes.

Is my recipe scientifically proven? No, these are just ideas in the murky world of training teenagers to run fast without getting hurt. (Remember, happy and healthy are pillars of Feed the Cats.)

Hopefully, you can convince 800 cat that only two days a week will suck, lactate workouts and meets. The other five days will be fun. I hated track six days a week in middle school, high school, and college.

It also needs to be said, no training system works unless kids believe in it. As a coach, you must be able to sell ice to eskimos. If you treat workouts as a hoop-jumping exercise (“trust the process”), you will never see results.

IS CROSS COUNTRY A BREEDING GROUND FOR 400 RUNNERS?

It’s possible to have a speedy cross country kid.

Ryan Maseman (below) has a chance to run 49 in the 400 and 1:55 in the 800 this year as a junior. Ryan is NOT the product of my sprint program. Ryan has grown into speed as he trained with the distance crew of Coach Andy Derks. Ryan ran 55.5 and 2:08 as a very good freshman distance runner. I don’t encourage cats to run cross country, but I also respect the fact that cross country kids with a distance background can magically become fast.

The Ryan Maseman story is an exception to my rule, “You don’t plant beans and grow corn.” In other words, you typically don’t get fast by doing tons of distance running.

In the 14-year history of Plainfield North, only two cross country kids have ever made our A-team 4×4. The above mentioned Ryan Maseman (51.2) and Austin Stone (51.6). In 2010, Stone ran 1:55.01 in the 800 and 51.6 in the 4×4. In my mind, like Maseman, Stone was an exception. Like Maseman, Stone’s speed grew in spite of cross country, not because of cross country. Austin’s 51.6 would have been 49.6 if he trained as a cat. However, trained as a cat, Austin would have never ran 1:55.01. Cross country is really good for 800 runners!

Just because in 14 years of 4×4 teams at Plainfield North we had two cross country runners hold a 4×4 spot three times, we can’t say, “cross country creates 4×4 speed”. 93% of my 4×4 spots in 14 years have been sprinters who never ran a lap in practice. We may be proud of exceptions like Maseman and Stone, but they are still exceptions.

The best way to run a 48-second 400 is to get fast enough to run a 22-second 200. The best way to break 1:55 in the 800 is to find a cross country runner who can run a 50 in the 400.

If you want to maximize 400 speed, feed the cats. If you want to maximize the 800, find your fastest cross country kids and train them to tolerate acidosis (lactate workouts). If you train your 400 runners in a “middle distance group”, you will neglect the speed needed to be elite in the 400. The opposite is also true, if you train an 800 guy as a cat, you will never be elite in the 800. You must choose.

You can’t train the 400 and 800 the same.

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Tony Holler (630) 849-8294, tony.holler@yahoo.com

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