**The “of death” is what my fiancé refers to them by. She does not enjoy them**

If you are a serious runner and have trained for any event from 800m all the way up to half marathons or even marathons, there is a chance you have done some form of 400m repeats. There is no way around the fact that 400m or quarter mile repeats are effective at making you a better and faster runner. But damn do they hurt like a mo fo! A typical 400m workout consists of running at a pace near 5k race pace, with minimal rest between reps and can range in volume of 2 miles, up to 5 miles. This is not a workout for the faint of heart. But it is quite possibly, at lest in my own opinion, one the most effective workouts you can do to improve fitness at any given goal race distance.

Who Should Run 400m Repeats?

Short answer: everyone! Anyone can benefit from doing this workout. But some need it more than others and some will need to perform this workout more frequently than others. Those who will benefit the most form these workouts are those whose goal race is anywhere between 3k-10k. Due to the fact that when performing 400m Repeats, you want to run them at a pace that is between 3k to 5k race pace. This is an intensity commonly called VO2max. Training at this given pace shows great benefits at improving overall race performance at those distances. And those racing between 3k-10k will benefit from these paces because it allows them to practice race pace without having to go out and race a 5k or 10k every week. Plus, by doing it with rest in-between each repeat, it allows for the athlete to achieve more volume. But any athlete who wishes to improve their overall fitness will benefit from this workout.

How To Run 400m Repeats

First you need to determine what your goal race time is and what your current fitness level is. To determine your current fitness you can run a time trial, 1 mile to 5k will do and you can plug that into any online calculator such as VDOT. This will give you estimated training paces. Using those numbers you can determine what paces to hit during these workouts.

Another factor to keep in mind is your training age (how many years have you been training for). If you are a newer runner you will want to keep with a lower volume workout and maybe slightly more rest until you understand how to pace yourself and deal with the inevitable fatigues and discomfort that comes from this workout. If you have been training for some time an feel that you can handle some tougher workouts, try to get the volume up and rest down.

The goal of this workout is to spend time at VO2max. But because this is such a challenging pace you will need some rest to be able to complete the workout. You also do not want to have too much recovery because you want to keep the heart rate up, keeping you in that VO2max range.

Someone who is new to these types of workout should stick to about 6-12 x 400m with slightly less recovery (ex: 1:30 for the 400m rep with about 1:15 – 1:30 rest). A well trained athlete can get up to 16 – 20 x 400m with less recovery (1:10 for the 400m rep with :45 – 1:00 rest).

Let’s say you are a 16:00 5k runner. Your goal pace for the race will be about 5:09/mile (1:16-1:17/400m).

Example Workout:

16 x 400m at 1:16 with 1:00 jog recovery

Summary

If you want to be a stronger and faster runner, 400m might be something you add to your weekly routine. This should only be performed once every week at most. If you have a 5k race over the weekend, that race will take the place of the workout. Start slow, don’t do too many reps your first time trying this workout. This is a challenging workout and even seasoned veterans end up on the ground gasping for air afterwards, so don’t try to prove anything. This will build up your physical strength as well as your mental strength!

Hope you enjoy this workout and continue to make progress on your running journey.

If you have any questions about this workout and how to implement it into your training program, feel free to message me. I am accepting athletes currently so if you would like to have a customized plan where the guess work is taken out of it I will be happy to work with you!

Enjoy