This week I kicked it up a notch. I set a goal time of 00:01.6 for my 400 meter time trial on Friday. I beat my goal time by one second, running a time of 00:01.5. I’m very happy with this because it means that the hard work throughout the week is paying off.

Once again I planned out the week to do track workouts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I used Thursday as my recovery day so I wasn’t straining my body the day before I wanted to attempt my 400 meter time trial.

Monday

Mondays workout was a 40 minute interval run around the Kenwood High School track. Intervals are short, intense efforts followed by a recovery time, and you just alternate between the two for the length of time you set. I ran the intense part of the interval for two minutes at a time and the light jog for an equal time of two minutes. The intense part should be at an effort above your anaerobic threshold. You should be reaching hard for air and counting the seconds until you can stop. The benefits of this run are improved running economy and endurance. 

Tuesday

For Tuesdays workout, I performed 20 x 400 meters with a 60 second recovery between each attempt. This workout is a total of 5 miles. When doing this workout, you want to have a goal time in place. For my goal time, I just used the time I wanted to reach on Friday, which was 00:01.6. I didn’t quite reach the goal time, with my fastest 400 meters of the day being 00:01.8. I began to slow down in my fifth attempt, so I increased my recovery time to whatever I felt was appropriate as I kept slowing down. The intent of this workout is to build endurance for a 400 meter race. By attempting to aim for the same time on each attempt, the body is being pushed harder and harder, which will make the 400 meter run easier in return when you only have to run it once.

Wednesday

On Wednesday I did a 10 mile run through Towson. For this type of run you just want aim for consistent time for each mile. I tried to hover around the 7 minute mark. Towards the end I got sloppy and hit times closer to 8 minutes. I brought one of my cross country buddies along for this  one because 10 miles is a long time to be running by yourself and believe it or not it can get kind of lonely. Having someone with you also allows for you to push each other to keep on going. A route with hills like this is tough on the legs too because of how long and steep some of the hills are.

While this run wasn’t on a track, it is still beneficial to track athletes because you’re pushing the body to its brink and it will make running on a track feel easier in the long run since a track is flat. Giving your body a full day to recover after this type of workout is ideal because of the amount of calories you burn and the rest will help strengthen the muscles.

There are many tracks to run on, but not all of them are free or even open to public use. Personally, I use either the track at Kenwood High School or the track at the Community College of Baltimore County Essex because they are conveniently located near my house. Not every school has a track and they can be tricky to find, so here is a map of some tracks located in the Baltimore County area.