Workout: 400 Meter Time Trial
by Steve McGill

At my school we have one week left in our season, as our state championship meet will take place on May 20-21. So, as we’re winding things down, we are tapering in our workouts — increasing the speed and decreasing the reps while adding more recovery time between reps. In addition, I’m a big fan of time trials two or three days prior to race day. We did a time trial last Thursday and will do another one this coming Wednesday. I only have one hurdler one my team, and she qualified in both the 100 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles (which isn’t a big deal, because qualifying times in our small private school division are ridiculously slow). Usually, for the 300 hurdles, I’ll do a time trial that involves some hurdling — a 200 over the first five, or a 300 clearing the first five and continuing on hurdle-free to the finish line. So, if you’d rather do one of those instead of the time trial I’m about to explain, go right ahead.

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Because my hurdler is so new to hurdling — she’s only run the hurdles in three meets, after I moved her to the hurdles from the 400/800 — I felt that a time trial over hurdles wouldn’t be the best option, as she still has no idea as to her stride pattern. Also, because we have no track to train on at our school, a time trial over hurdles was pretty much impossible unless we tried to go to a local college or public school after their team had finished practice, which wasn’t practical when considering she had AP exams to prepare for. So we ended up doing the workout on a loop on a nearby cross country course. The loop is about 440 meters, and I measured 400 meters with my measuring wheel. But normally, this workout would be done on a track. 

The Workout:

• Full pre-race workout, including dynamic stretches, sprint drills, and accelerations.
• One 400 meter sprint, all-out, preferably in spikes, using starting blocks.
• Full commands — take your mark, set, go. 
• Watch starts on the go, stops when the torso crosses the finish line.

In setting a target time, you’ll want a time that equates to a personal best in the 300 hurdles. So, if I want the athlete to run 45.00 in the meet, I’ll want this 400 time trial to be in the 60-flat range.

If your athlete runs the 400 hurdles instead of the 300 hurdles, then you’ll want to do a 500 meter time trial. 

In my case with my athlete, we did this workout last week, and we’ll do it again this week, as I said above. She can feel confident that if her time in the time trial drops, then her time in the race will drop as well. The key is, the athlete has to follow the rules. The day before the time trial is a day off, so there can be no working out on one’s own. This workout must be done with fresh legs if it is to serve its purpose of being a race indicator. In addition, regular hydration and a good night’s sleep are a must as well, regardless of academic and social obligations. Athletes need to manage their time accordingly.

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