How to run the 400m: workouts, race strategy and a training plan

What limits 400m performance

The 400m sits between a sprint and a middle-distance race. Researchers who measured trained 400m runners in race-style time trials found the aerobic system supplied 41% of the energy in men and 45% in women, with the rest anaerobic. A treadmill study of national-level athletes put the 400m at 43% aerobic and found the aerobic system became the main energy source somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds in.

The anaerobic side shows up as lactate, a by-product that builds in your blood during hard efforts. In 17 top-level athletes tested within 10 minutes of major races, blood lactate after the race tracked how close each 400m was to the athlete's season best (r = 0.85 in men, 0.80 in women). On the track, 400m runners reached their peak oxygen uptake (how much oxygen the body is using), 94% of their maximum, after about 24 seconds or 192m. In the last 100m, oxygen uptake fell in every runner. The more acid had built up in a runner by 300m, the more they slowed over the final 100m.

Speed reserve

Your top speed sets the ceiling. In a study of seven competitive runners, two numbers predicted all-out speeds for efforts from 3 seconds to 4 minutes to within about 2.5% on a treadmill and 3.4% on the track. One was the fastest speed the runner could reach in a short burst. The other was the speed at which they hit their maximal oxygen uptake. The gap between those two speeds is often called the anaerobic speed reserve. The faster your top speed, the smaller a share of your max any 400m pace is.

Coaches also use two simple markers, set out by coach Pierre-Jean Vazel in the World Athletics report on the 2017 world championships:

• Speed endurance index. Your 400m time divided by your 200m best. Above about 2.16 you're a speed type (Wayde van Niekerk was 2.17). Below it you lean toward endurance (bronze medallist Abdalelah Haroun was 2.09). The index had no link to 400m time, so both types can be world class.
• Speed reserve in the race. Your 200m split during the 400m minus your 200m best. For men under 45 seconds it averaged 0.84 seconds. Runners who reached halfway closer to their 200m best slowed more in the second half.

A speed type usually needs more special endurance. An endurance type usually gains most from getting faster over 100m and 200m. Check your times against the average 400m times and, for younger athletes, the 400m times by age.

400m splits in elite races

The second 100m, on the back straight with a running start, is the fastest of the race. The last 100m is always the slowest. These 100m splits come from World Athletics biomechanics reports. The women's 100m segments are worked out from the in-race times in the women's report.

A few things stand out:

• Van Niekerk's world record had the fastest second 100m (9.81) and the fourth-fastest third 100m (10.48) of all the personal-best races the report's commentary had analysed. Most of his gains over the years came in the second half, especially from 200 to 300m.
• Haroun was last at 340m in the 2017 final and finished third. He ran the slowest first half of the finalists and was the only one under 12 seconds for the last 100m.
• In 2017, Allyson Felix and Shaunae Miller-Uibo both passed 200m in under 23 seconds and finished third and fourth. Phyllis Francis won in 49.92, splitting 23.11 (not counting reaction time) and 26.61.
• The report's commentary ties the final result more to holding speed from 200 to 300m than to the last 100m, where runners at every level slow at about the same rate.

A study that compared world-class, national and regional 400m runners found everyone hit peak speed between 50 and 100m. World-class men passed 200m at 97.6% of their 200m-best speed and world-class women at 96.3%, faster than the lower-level groups. The world-class runners also slowed more: their fatigue index (how much they slowed from peak speed) was 23%, against 14% for national and regional runners.

400m pace chart

In the elite races above, the second 200m was 2–12% slower than the first for the men and 11–19% slower for the women. The chart turns a goal time into first and second 200m splits at three levels of slowdown. If you're new to the event, start with the 10% column and adjust once you see how your last 100m holds up.

Check your first 200m against your 200m best too. Within a few tenths of it and you'll pay in the home straight. The track time converter helps when your best times come from different distances.

400m race strategy, 100m by 100m

0–100m: get out hard

Accelerate out of the blocks like you would in a 200m. Peak speed comes between 50 and 100m. An analysis cited in the World Athletics report found 400m runners can reach 90% of their 100m top speed as early as 5.5 seconds into the race. The block start guide covers the setup.

100–200m: relax at speed

Come off the bend and carry your speed down the back straight without forcing it. This is the fastest 100m of the race for elite runners, and it should feel smooth: tall posture, loose shoulders and hands. Aim to reach 200m slower than your 200m best, close to your split from the pace chart.

200–300m: hold your speed

Most races are decided here. Your oxygen uptake has already peaked, fatigue is building, and the runners who keep their speed through the second bend usually run the best times. Keep driving your arms and stay on the inside of your lane.

300–400m: hold your form

Everyone slows. In trained runners racing to an elite pacing pattern, the slowest speed in the last 100m was 77% of their peak speed. Step rate (steps per second) drops more than step length: at 350m in London, van Niekerk's step rate was 3.33 per second, against 4.00 at 150m of his 200m. Don't reach for longer steps. Keep your arms moving, stay tall, and let your feet land under you. The overstriding guide explains why reaching slows you down.

The five types of 400m workout

Coaches don't agree on the names, so one coach's speed endurance session is another's special endurance. This table lists the common types from shortest to longest. The speed, speed endurance, sprint-specific endurance and extensive tempo rows come from a review of elite sprint training, where intensity is a percentage of top speed. The special endurance and intensive tempo rows come from Sprint University's 400m coaching notes.

Speed

Short acceleration and flying sprints at full effort with full rest. They raise the top speed that everything else in your 400m depends on. Keep them in all year, race weeks included. The sprint workouts guide has seven of these sessions written out.

Speed endurance

Sprints of 60–150m that train you to hold speed as you start to slow. The elite review describes sprint-specific endurance as runs of 7–15 seconds at 95–100% with full recovery. It gives a coaches' rule of thumb of 1–2 minutes of rest for every second of all-out sprinting.

Special endurance

Reps of 150–300m at 90–95% with 10–15 minutes of rest. This is the work closest to the race: fast enough to feel like it and long enough to build second-half fatigue.

Lactate tolerance

Special endurance II: reps of 300–600m at 85–95% with 15–20 minutes or more of rest. These are the hardest sessions a 400m runner does. Save them for experienced athletes and space them out.

Tempo

Extensive (easy) tempo runs at 60–70% and fills the easy days. Intensive (harder) tempo runs at 80–89% on short rest and counts as a hard day. The tempo runs guide gives paces and sample sessions for both.

To turn a percentage into a target time, divide your best time for the rep distance by the percentage, as in the tempo runs guide. A runner with a 36.0 best for 300m runs 95% reps in about 37.9 seconds.

Sample 400m workouts

The first two sessions come from Sprint University's base program. The flying 20s are a speed day. The speed endurance day runs full-speed 40s and 60s, then finishes with tempo.

Next is the sprint-specific endurance dose the elite review gives for a well-trained sprinter. It suits a 400m runner early in the season, before the longer reps.

Special endurance I, the long reps closest to the race:

Lactate tolerance. Run the 500m controlled, rest fully and run the 300m all-out:

Split runs break the race into halves with a short rest, so you run goal pace and then finish tired. They're a staple of the peaking phase, the last weeks before your big races:

400m training plan: sample weeks

Put easy days between hard days. The elite review allows 48–72 hours after speed endurance or sprint-specific endurance before the next hard session, and 24 hours after tempo. It also notes that long-sprint specialists usually go long to short: longer runs early in preparation, getting shorter and faster through the year. The periodization for sprinters guide covers how the phases of the season fit together.

Pre-season week

An example from the middle of preparation. Volume is higher. The special endurance day starts with intensive tempo and moves to faster reps with longer rest as the block goes on.

In-season week

An example with a Saturday meet. The hardest training day is furthest from the race, and speed stays in midweek at low volume.

Lift on the speed days, after the running. Every third or fourth week, cut volume to recover. The deload week guide shows what to trim. Warm up the same way before every hard session with the sprint warm-up.

Common mistakes

Going out at 200m race effort

Reach halfway a little slower than your 200m best. Elite men who ran the first half closer to their 200m best slowed more in the second.

Dropping speed work

Your top speed sets your speed reserve. Keep short acceleration and flying sprints in every week, in season too.

Training like a distance runner

Get your aerobic work from tempo on the track and keep the hard days fast. Long slow runs train a much slower speed than you race at.

Lactate tolerance every week

Special endurance II is the hardest session you'll run. Space it 10–14 days apart and keep the rest of the week lighter around it.

Cutting the rest on special endurance

Reps of 150–300m need 10–15 minutes of rest. Short rest turns a race-pace session into a slow one.

Reaching for longer steps in the straight

Step rate drops the most when you tire. Keep your arms driving and your feet landing under you.