10.64 -0.2
21.22 1.2

Which parts sounds similar to what you have been doing exactly? Perhaps you could give us a run down of what your program is like at the moment?

Wow that is quick 300. So you're a NSW athlete? Good luck this season, please let us all know on here how you go at the end of November for your opening 400 of the season. I'm not going to compete in the 4 again until November 27th -hopefully there will be a considerable improvement.

Bullseye, Bailey fan & Jim Beisty thank you for the information.
Bullseye, does a good gym session include much upper body weights for a 400m runner? I would imagine there would be lots of squats and other leg exercises? At the moment I do some occasional circuit work - push ups, dips, sit ups, lunges, calf raises and jump lunges.

My program from competion has been the following..

23/10/09 (competition)400m - 56.73 HJ - 1.70
24/10/09 4 x 150m (15mins) (95% effort)
25/10/09 500(76), 300(40), 200(26) (20mins), bikram yoga(90mins)
26/10/09 REST
27/10/09 6x300m(3mins) - 40, 44, 47, 49, 52, 51.
28/10/09 REST (slept in- I'm on night shift at the moment)

This Saturday I run a 12km leg in the Blackwood marathon and after that I won't be running anything longer than a 400m specific session until next year.

It really depends on the type of upper body work you are doing. Bench press for example is ok as although you are working the upper body it has a big effect on the legs via the central nervous system. Often sprinters close to an important meet will do a near max bench press (3 reps) because it is an exercise that stimulates a lot of motor units within the body but obviously does not cause any unnecessary fatigue in the legs.
I would be working with exercises such as cleans and split cleans and working in the 4-6 rep range so that you don't put on any unnecessary muscle bulk. If you haven't done these exercises before you'd want to learn the correct technique first as injury can be a concern. Those exercises are quite taxing on the body so I if you do them with good quality in the gym I would be using the other exercises you do in the gym as more supplementary exercises - core work, some calf stuff and some good glut activation work - most of your hard work will come from your track sessions so you don't need to be killing yourself in the gym as it will just take away from the quality work you are able to do on the track.
Judging from the sessions you need to be more realistic with yourself in regards to session times. You ran a 56 sec 400 the other week but then ran the first of your 6 300m reps in 40 secs and were only giving yourself 3 mins rest. You were always going to struggle from there! I would stop pushing to try and run faster at this stage and instead target your sessions as if you are a 55 sec 400m runner and let the improvement come to you instead of forcing it. You will not go from 56-49 sec in a few weeks but if you commit to the training now then I think you will come close by then of the season
For example, from the previous post I outlined I would think a good set up for the next few weeks would be
Sat - 5x40m building to 5x60m sprints+gym
Sun - 12x200m at 37.5 sec pace with 30 sec rest
Mon - rest or 25 min steady run
Tues - 3x3x300m (100 jog/ 5mins) aiming to run them in the 52-53 sec range alternating with 6x200m with 200 slow jog recovery in 28.5 secs. You may struggle on this initially so maybe go for 2x3x200m with a walk 200m in between the 3rd and 4th reps+gym
Wed - as for sunday
Thurs - hills. Hills can get you fit very quickly. Great for functional leg strength and it is often easier to mentally get your head around pushing yourself when you are away from the track and don't have the pressure of the stop watch to go by. Something like 2x2x300-350m hill (approx 1min). Jog back in between reps and have full recovery in between sets. You want this to be a quality session but still be able to not blow out time wise on the final rep so be cautious with doing this session for the first time
Fri - rest
I would stay away from competing too often. Maybe once every 4 weeks until mid jan so that you can test how training is going and then set yourself new target times for sessions. It is a very long season so you don't need to rush into it.
Hope this is of some help.

a week that i have done before would be

Sunday: longer slow runs
Monday: shorter slower runs
Tuesday: rest. swim recovery
Wednesday: speed work. short sprints
Thursday: lactic work
Friday: rest. swim recovery
Saturday: speed work.

Bone - Can I ask what your name is?

Sure can mate. Its Matt Lynch

haha shit yeah i thought it was....I looked up the rankings list from '08' and '09' and seen your PB's matched perfect with the wind readings!


Good luck for the year!

Got 2x(200 + 200) 2mins between each run.

havent done this session before so not sure what to expect.
except that ill be buggered

Thanks again bullseye. I'll do all those sessions and keep you posted with how things go.



At what intensity?
How long between each of the sets for recovery?

the first 200 is about the same pace you'd go out for the first 2 in a 400, so about 1-2 seconds off your 200m pb. Then coming home, try n keep it about 1 sec out from what you did your initial 200m in.

then 15mins and repeat