Endurance training for 400m/800m racers

For 400/800m runners, it can be tempting to use 5K road races to try to build endurance, as a supplement to track work. But there are better ways to get a deep aerobic stimulus that are more applicable to your race.

I think the first thing we need to be honest about is that most good 400m/800m runners have a coach they’re working with. So my first suggestion is that if you feel you need to build your endurance, talk to your coach and ask what he or she recommends.

I’m not a big fan of a 5K race as part of a 400m/800m-training program for a few reasons. First, the pace of the 5K is so much slower than either of these distances. Yes, there is an aerobic component to running the 400m and the 800m (and just in the last decade research has shown that these two events are even more aerobic than we once thought) but when you run a 5K, you’re teaching your body, both biomechanically and neuromuscularly, something that is much different from 400m/800m racing. 

And this leads me to my next reason why I’m not a fan of a 5K race—there are so many other ways to get a deep aerobic stimulus, yet also do things that are metabolically, neuromuscularly, and hormonally closer to your event. 

Example: You could do a circuit of 5 x 300m. After each 300m, jog to the middle of the high jump apron and do some general strength exercises. If you have a medicine ball you can do high tosses and hay bales. But you could also do a simple leg circuit without equipment—lunges, body squats, etc.—and finish with some pedestal work. Then jog to the 300m hurdle start line and run your next 300m. You can run the 300s at a tempo that you and your coach come up with. It will likely be running that is powered by both the aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms. Plus, in this workout you’ll deal with a great deal of lactate and that’s a good thing for a 400m/800m athlete.

My final thought is this: It’s so easy during a 5k for a middle distance runner to run with poor posture at the end of the race—leaning too far forward or sitting in the hips. Even true 5K runners struggle to run with proper mechanics as they approach the finish. If you practice bad mechanics during your 5K race, there is a chance that those bad mechanics will carry over into your 400m/800m pace work, or even to your speed development work.

I know it may be disappointing to hear this if you’re a 400/800m runner and eyeing 5Ks as a fun way to get some extra conditioning. But if you’re motivated to work on your endurance, you can use that energy for different workouts on the track that will have a more direct correlation to the events you’re running.

Jay