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150 Meter Fly Time to Project your 400 Meters

May 24, 2009 by Jimson Lee

Can you use your 150 meter fly time in practice to determine your 400 meter performance?  A 150 fly is simply running 160 meters and timing the last 150m.

Yes and No.

First it would be scary to consider Usain Bolt’s 14.35 150 meter fly time which is probably around 13.35 subtracting 1 second for acceleration out of the blocks.  My chart below doesn’t go into unknown territory, but you can easily create one yourself using Microsoft Excel. if you are curious.

Our workouts back then consisted of 3 x 150 meters with full recovery, though today in hindsight, I would limit that to only 2 x 150m.

150meter fly to 400 meter extrapolation


What does this chart mean?

In 1991, I was training short-to-long and focused on the 200m with the odd 400 meters thrown in.  My 150m fly times were around 15.6 back then, and it equated to several legal 22.0X FAT times.  I ran a legal sub 22 second 200 meter just once, and that was into a headwind!  (…Clint Austin from Texas, where are you now?)

Of course, a 15.6 sounds pedestrian compared to a 13.3, but I am human after all.

In 1992, my coach reversed my training around using a long-to-short approach, and my 150m fly times were not as fast compared to the previous year (15.8 to be exact – a 0.2 second difference), but I did run a legal 22.24 for 200 meters and a 48.36 / 48.37 in back to back Semi-Final and Final 400 meter races.  This is fairly consistent to the chart.

Speed is the Key

Speed is the key here, and if you improve your speed, then your speed reserve will follow.

What does this mean to you?

According to the chart (remember, this is only a chart… a real FAT timed performance is what really matters)  you will need to run at least 16.5 or faster if you want to break 50 for the 400 meters.

Since it is late May, consider a 2 x 150 meter workout (only if you are a 200/400 runner!) with full recovery and let me know your thoughts below.

Complete Speed Training

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Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Coaching, Featured Story, Track and Field 

Comments

8 Responses to “150 Meter Fly Time to Project your 400 Meters”

  1. Philippe on May 25th, 2009 9:47 am

    Jim

    Talk about *timing* :) I actually did 3 x 150m today before I even read this 150m blog!!!. Of course, my times were a little slower (18.5), so I still have lot’s of work ahead of me if I want to break 50 points. This chart really comes in handy though and gives me a baseline to shoot for. I will let you know in a few months how I make out.

    Thanks again

    Philippe

  2. Jimson Lee on May 25th, 2009 11:52 am

    @Philippe - I will send you an Excel spreadsheet with the extrapolated values.

  3. Chui Chimani on May 26th, 2009 6:59 am

    Would this also apply to women? Or would the distances (or fly duration for that matter) change?

    What do I need to do to also receive a copy of your Excel spreadsheet?

  4. wes on May 29th, 2009 3:10 pm

    should the 2×150m flys be done with or without spikes?

  5. Jimson Lee on May 30th, 2009 12:24 am

    @wes - with spikes

  6. hugh on July 9th, 2009 10:08 am

    email me also with the spreadsheet please, would be interesting ,i am a38yr old vet going 18.5 fly 150 meter

  7. godson on September 26th, 2009 10:25 am

    I did 16.1 with running shoes but are you supposed to do it with spikes because I hate wearing spikes a practice since my shins hurt sometimes?

  8. hugh on September 28th, 2009 3:03 pm

    yo godson ,ideally spikes if your looking for an accurate timing, otherwise run on grass til your shins are pain free

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