400 Meter Training Tips from Bill Bowerman

October 6, 2009 by Jimson Lee

Bill Bowerman is more famous for co-founding NIKE and coaching long distance runners, but he did coach sprinters and field events. I covered Harry Jerome and Otis Davis in previous articles.
From his book Bill Bowerman’s High-Performance Training for Track and Field (Third Edition) he compares the training patterns of Stan Wright, Jim Bush, and John […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Book Reviews, Coaching, Featured Story, Training | 1 Comment

Bahamas Track and Field - From Vancouver To Athens

September 20, 2009 by Jimson Lee

On September 28, 2009, a new book titled “From Vancouver To Athens (1954-2004)”.by Alpheus ‘Hawk’ Finlayson will be released in Bahamas.
Why 1954?
Because the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The first British Empire Games were held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1930, and it was renamed to simply “Commonwealth […]

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Dwayne Miller - Coach of LaShawn Merritt

September 14, 2009 by Jimson Lee

From the mailbag:
Jimson,
You’ve covered a lot of great 400m coaches on your website like Clyde Hart, Bud Winter and Stan Dowell.
How about LaShawn Merritt’s coach? What kind of training philosophy does he have? Long to Short or Short to Long?

First of all, Dwayne Miller is LaShawn Merritt’s coach.
LaShawn’s last 4 years have been impressive […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Coaching, Featured Story, Podcasts, Track and Field | 3 Comments

Otis Davis, 1960 400 meter and 4×400m Olympic Champion

September 13, 2009 by Jimson Lee

In my last article about the Harry Jerome, Bill Bowerman and the University of Oregon connection, I didn’t mention Otis Davis, the Rome 1960 400 meter and USA 4×400m Olympic Champion.
I am currently in Rome, so there is a special connection every time I visit the Rome Olympic Stadium, whether it’s for the Rome Golden […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Olympic History, Track and Field | Leave a Comment

400 meters - The Numbers Game

September 2, 2009 by Jimson Lee

Ever notice airline magazines and USA Today have those short articles with interesting stats and numbers?
I thought to give it a try with the 400 meters.
Here goes…
The 400 meters
5800 – Number of subscribers to SpeedEndurance.com
3635 – Age of the current world record (in days)
2010 - ? Year of the first sub 43 by Usain […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Featured Story, Track and Field | 3 Comments

400 meter splits - 2009 Berlin World Championships

August 31, 2009 by Jimson Lee

The official splits from the IAAF can be found here (PDF). What can we learn from these splits?
Standard Coaching Theory
If your opening 200m is within 1 second of your best 200m, and the differential between the 1st half and 2nd half is about 2 seconds, then simple logic determines your 400m time potential is doubled […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Coaching, Track and Field | 3 Comments

43.18- It was 10 Years Ago Today - August 26, 1999

August 26, 2009 by Jimson Lee

If the number forty-three-point-one-eight (43.18) doesn’t mean anything to you, then you aren’t a real Quarter-miler. One day, that number (or lower) will be the 100 meter freestyle swim record.
It was ten years ago today, Michael Johnson set the Men’s 400-meter world record in Seville.
Michael Johnson should have demolished the 400 World Record in Zurich […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Track and Field, Videos | 2 Comments

LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner 400m - Battle of Nike and Adidas

August 21, 2009 by Jimson Lee

LaShawn Merrit and Jeremy Wariner in the 400m – The Battle of Nike and Adidas
Next to the Usain Bolt – Tyson Gay anticipated match up, the LaShawn Merritt Jeremy Wariner head-to-head match up comes next.
These two have been avoiding each other all year, and the meeting in Herculis Greece never materialized where LaShawn ran 44.73.
Head-to-head […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Track and Field, Videos | 1 Comment

400 meter Sprinting vs. 100 meter Freestyle Swim

August 3, 2009 by Jimson Lee

I am currently in Rome where the 2009 FINA World Championships are held. There’s quite a buzz in the city with the electric atmosphere of a Championship meet.
Plus, it’s over 35C or over 90F during the day with humidity. And those temperatures are in the shade!
Between 1968 and 2004, only 7 men have run under […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Featured Story, Swimming | 4 Comments

LaShawn Merritt 44.73 Herculis Monaco Video

July 29, 2009 by Jimson Lee

LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner continue to avoid each other as the match up to Berlin comes to a climax.
This video is a textbook 400 meter sprinting at its finest. The HQ quality shows good form and rhythm from most of the athletes, including the winner LaShawn Merritt.
Ever notice the 400 meter winner smiles for […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Track and Field, Videos | 1 Comment

Running 100 Meters before your Big Race – Thoughts on Shawn Crawford

June 9, 2009 by Jimson Lee

Did anyone notice Shawn Crawford’s 100-300m double at the 2009 NIKE Prefontaine meet? He ran a 10.21 (+0.1) 100 meters followed by a rare 300 meters in 32.47 about an hour later.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Shawn Crawford crossed the line in 4th place, got a silver medal from 2 disqualifications (Churandy Martina and Wallace […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Coaching, Featured Story, Track and Field | 4 Comments

Uphill Running Benefits for Speed and Special Endurance

June 1, 2009 by Jimson Lee

I discussed overspeed training by means of a pulley or slight downhill grade.
But what about uphill running, or running with resistance such as sleds?
These two scenarios have two different functions, but I’ll discuss sleds and pulleys on a later post.
Over the Hills
Because distances on the hills are hard to measure (i.e. […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, 800m-Mile, Coaching, Featured Story, Track and Field | 1 Comment

400 Meters – Speed is the Key

May 25, 2009 by Jimson Lee

Gone are the days where the 400 meters was an event for 800 meter runners who moved down in distance.
Today, I am convinced the short sprinters have an advantage over the “strength” sprinters like Lee Evans and Butch Reynolds. I am referring to the successes of Quincy Watts and Michael Johnson. In MJ’s case, my […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Featured Story, Track and Field | 1 Comment

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 […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Coaching, Featured Story, Track and Field | 8 Comments

400 Meter Training Workouts - the 6×200 meters

April 28, 2009 by Jimson Lee

I had a lot of email questions on the 400/800 Meter Training Workouts - The Beakdown, so I thought to add a few more of these workouts. (I wish readers would comment on the blog below the article so everyone can provide feedback)

The Clyde Hart 8×200 Workout

For men,

8 x 200m in 28 seconds.

as the […]

Written by Jimson Lee · Filed Under 400 meters, Featured Story, Track and Field, Training | 27 Comments

Sprint Speed Throughout the Training Year

April 23, 2009 by Jimson Lee

This article is guest blogged by Jim Hiserman, author of the book Program Design Method for Sprints & Hurdle Training.

This is a 5 part series: