Over the last four weeks, I’ve been tracking my journey of trying to perform a 60 second 400 meter time trial.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect at the start of this journey. I had already been a cross country runner at the collegiate level, but track is far different from cross country because rather than focusing on endurance, you’re trying to focus on speed. I had to completely change my workout routine in order to train like a track athlete.

Each week I would train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I would perform a time trial on Friday, in an attempt to reach a specific goal time I set for the week. Each goal time would be faster than the previous week, and it was all building up to help me reach my final 60 second goal time.

When it came to my final time trial, I came up just short of the 60 second mark but I’m still happy with the effort that I put into it.

Over the course of my training, I have learned multiple lessons. 

One lesson that I have learned was to not push myself too hard and to rest my body when needed. I believe this would have helped me during my final time trial because, as I’ve stated before, my legs were feeling sore the previous day and I still decided to go out for a run.

Something else I’ve learned from this experience is you can do anything if you have the will and the drive. I know that sounds cliche but it’s true.

A lot of people have trouble getting out of their own way and that keeps them from accomplishing things that they wish they could. I didn’t have that issue with my training. Even when I didn’t really want to run a certain day, I just willed myself to do it because I knew that it would get me the end result that I wanted.

Moving forward, I am going to continue to train to reach my 400 meter goal time because that’s just the kind of person I am. I have a hard time settling for anything less than perfection. Once I reach that goal, I think I’m going to incorporate some elements of track training into my training for long distance.

Running at a track is a good way to get outdoors and safer than going to a gym, with the whole COVID-19 situation that’s going on. Tracks usually have a field in the center, so you can bring weights and other equipment you may use at the gym in order to get a full workout in.

Even though I didn’t reach the 60 second mark by the date I had hoped to, I’m proud of myself for pushing through any struggles and challenges I may have faced along the way, and I hope I inspired you all to do the same.

If you’d like any more information on my training, feel free to email me!

Coming off of a great time trial each of the last two weeks, my mindset was in great place. This was great for my upcoming time trial on Friday. This week I set my goal time for what I’ve been working towards the past two weeks, a 60 second 400 meter. I ran a time of 01:02, missing my goal by two seconds. Sure, I was a little bit irritated immediately after my attempt, but the progress was still there and that’s something to be proud of in itself.

Leading up to the Friday time trial, I performed the same schedule as the last two weeks, which was three workouts before the time trial on Friday. The one thing I did differently was workout on Thursday instead of Wednesday.

Monday

On Monday I performed a 7 mile run through my neighborhood in Essex. This run is similar to the 10 mile run that I did last Wednesday, where I tried to aim for a consistent time each mile. For this run I tried to stay around the 06:50 mark. I actually did well and averaged a time of 06:56 for the entire run. The route I ran didn’t have too many hills, so it wasn’t as tough on my legs this time, but it will still help build leg strength that is beneficial for running track since the asphalt doesn’t have any bounce to it and it’s not as flat as a track.

Tuesday

After such a good run on Monday, I decided to push myself a little bit. On Tuesday I did a 10 x 800 meter track workout. This workout is the same distance as the workout I did last Tuesday but it requires more endurance since each set is two laps around a 400 meter track. I tried to hold a consistent time of 02:05 for each 800 meter. I ended up doing better than that by averaging a time of 02:03 for the entire workout. This workout will make a 400 meter time trial easier since I was aiming for my 400 meter time twice in the same set with no break in between, increasing my endurance.

Thursday

When I woke up to run on Wednesday, my legs were aching so I thought it was best to rest and move my workout to Thursday. On Thursday my legs still felt a little bit tired, but it wasn’t as bad as Wednesday so I just forced myself to run in order to get something in before my time trial since having too many days off can begin to take a toll on the progress you’ve made. I took it easy and did a light 5 mile run around my neighborhood. I didn’t have a specific time I was aiming for because I didn’t want to push myself too hard and end up injuring myself, but I averaged a time of 07:03. Directly after my run I thought I shook the aching away but it returned later that night, though not as bad as it was before the run.

As I’ve stated earlier, I didn’t quite reach my goal time for the 400 meter time trial. After evaluating all of the reasons as to why I didn’t reach my goal time in the time trial, I have determined that the reason for this is because I was feeling fatigued on Thursday but I decided to push through and will myself to an easy workout. I probably should have rested but my mindset was great going into the week and that may have boosted my confidence a little too high. The fatigue just caught up with me. As a runner, if you’re experiencing tired legs, some of the best ways to recover are ice baths, epsom salt baths, or a massage with a foam roller.

Social media can be a great place to connect with other runners and get information on a bunch of different running topics, so I’ve decided to create a twitter list and attach it below!

A Twitter List by TheCharlesAvery

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.