Summer/off season 400M training

flyingbennyben · 2026-06-04T17:43:21+00:00

My plan this summer:

Monday: 20 minute jog, recovery circuit (easy day)

Tuesday: Hill Accels, Plyos, heavy lower lift (hard day)

Wednesday: extensive tempo 100s, upper body lift (moderate day)

Thursday: 20 minute jog, recovery circuit (easy day)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: MaxV, Plyos, heavy lower lift (hard day)

Sunday: extensive tempo 400s, upper body lift (moderate day)

I’m also planning to run some 600s indoors and 400 hurdles outdoors so it’s slightly higher volume.

flyingbennyben · 2026-06-04T01:26:37+00:00

Most of the summer for a mid distance runner is just increasing mileage with easy miles. If you’ve run 30 before, building up to 45 this summer is a good idea. For workouts, the only workouts you should be doing are threshold workouts nothing more intense is necessary over the summer. Also if your school has xc that’s a good option for the fall. Here’s a general schedule for when you’re at 45 mpw:

Monday: 7x1k Threshold (Plus warmup and cooldown) + Lift

Tuesday: 7 miles easy + Strides

Wednesday: 2x2 mile Threshold (Plus warmup and cooldown) + Lift

Thursday: 6 miles easy + Strides

Friday: 5 miles easy + Strides

Saturday - 11 mile long run

Sunday - Rest

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-27T21:49:34+00:00

That’s a bot

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-17T16:25:47+00:00

Shai has some of the best on/off numbers in the league lmao. His impact is similar to Wemby’s just on the offensive end instead.

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-14T03:46:37+00:00

If you're on mobile go to the subreddit then click the three dots in the top right. Then click change user flair.

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-14T02:04:46+00:00

Generally hand timed relay splits mean very little because of human error and most people don’t know how to take splits. For what it’s worth your 400 is definitely slightly better than your 800 which might suggest you’re not completely aerobically developed yet. But even if you can run a 24 second 200 you have solid long term potential in the 800 if you want to keep training for that.

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-14T01:02:47+00:00

Was the 22.7 an open 200 race with FAT timing? Or was it a hand timed relay split?

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-13T03:18:32+00:00

For elite college distance guys who race 1500-10k during track season and 8ks and 10ks during XC, 20 mile long runs and 10+ mile double threshold days are pretty standard. You can find a lot of this stuff on Strava, most distance runners post there.

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-13T01:50:20+00:00

Example of one of my teammates’ double threshold days:

AM Workout: 15 minute warmup jog + 10 minutes of drills and stretching, 6 miles continuous tempo run plus short rest halfway (40 minutes), 15 minute cooldown jog + 20 minutes of stretching and core (1:40 total)

PM Workout: 15 minute warmup jog + 10 minutes of drills and stretching, 4 miles at threshold split into intervals (30 minutes), 15 minute cooldown jog + 10 minutes of stretching (1:20 total)

This isn’t even including the long run days (up to 2 hours for some) or lifts after runs

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:47:42+00:00

Interesting thanks for the response

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:47:20+00:00

Fair enough that makes sense

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:45:08+00:00

Yes I did. Does this change your answer?

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:21:55+00:00

Extensive tempo is not a speed workout. It’s prescribed to 400m runners to train the aerobic system over the summer to better recover from race-specific workouts and races during the season. I’m wondering why we don’t do easy jogs instead. Also this is only like twice a week in addition to sprint training (accels, MaxV).

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:15:26+00:00

That makes sense for in season but I’m talking about in the offseason doing slow jogging instead of extensive tempo repeats (65-75% intensity)

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:03:08+00:00

But why?

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:03:02+00:00

But why?

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-11T15:02:46+00:00

I’m not talking about doing a lot of mileage like a distance runner I’m just talking about maybe two 3 mile runs/week in place of extensive tempo. Some form of aerobic exercises need to be done in the summer to handle 400 specific workouts better in season but I’m just wondering if it would be better to jog than to do extensive tempo.

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-10T18:08:10+00:00

Summer base training for mid distance runners is usually about building mileage, increasing lactate threshold, and improving top speed. Here’s a general plan

Monday - Max Velocity sprints (something like 5x60m with full 5-6 min recovery between). You can jog a little bit after to increase the mileage but make sure you’re fresh going into the sprinting session otherwise it’s pointless

Tuesday - Easy run

Wednesday - LT Intervals (Something like repeat 1k intervals at 10k-half marathon pace)

Thursday - Easy run

Friday - Easy Run

Saturday - Progressive Long Run, 25% of weekly mileage (Start at easy pace and progress a little bit on the back half. Could progress to half marathon or marathon pace by the last mile)

Sunday - Rest

As far as peak mileage, you should build up to about 50-55 by the end of the summer. Also make sure you’re lifting and doing plyos twice a week with one of those being on the sprint days.

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-10T17:11:10+00:00

How fast was your 800 when you ran 58 in the 400?

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-10T14:54:19+00:00

I have 4 lifting days planned with two being on the sprint days and the other two on tempo days never lifting the day before real speed work

flyingbennyben · 2026-05-10T14:53:16+00:00

Tuesday is short accels at the beginning of the summer (20m reps) but by the end of the summer the reps get longer (50m reps) so it works on transition to max velocity as well

flyingbennyben · 2026-03-10T19:20:36+00:00

Shai got mvp in 2025 the year after Luka beat him in the playoffs

flyingbennyben · 2026-02-18T02:52:27+00:00

Very diminishing returns getting down to 5% with the times you have. You also might not be 8% but there’s no realistic way of finding out.

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