When you do 200 meters in workouts, where do you start?
I wrote about 400 Meter Training Workouts – the Descending 6×200 meters as well as Clyde Hart’s Split 400 meter Workout.
Usually, they start across the field at the 200m start line, and finish at the regular finish line.
On windy days, you can start at the finish line, and end at the 200m start line. It’s still a curve-straight combo.
(SIDENOTE: speaking of wind, some coaches prefer having the wind at your back whenever possible. This helps you attain top speed faster and more efficiently. This is MY preference. Other coaches, especially high school coaches, have them run INTO the wind whenever possible for mental toughness, except for time trials. This way, on race day, if it’s windy in your face, no worries, it’s just like practice Coach! Like the old cliché, your mileage may vary.)
But we all agree we start on the curve followed by a straight, just like a real race.
Clyde Hart does something unusual, and that is start from the 350 meter mark to the 150 meter mark. It’s still half a lap, just not the half that you are used to. It is still 200 meters and resembles a reverse “C” or a backwards “J”. It ends up being a 50m-100m-50m curve-straight-curve combo.
If you really want to be super accurate, you could use 1st hurdle to 7th hurdle, which would be 45m to 255m, or 210m total. Then just mark off 10 meters using a measuring wheel or tape measure..
Or just run halfway on the curve and use the field goal posts as your guide.
Anyway you slice it, it’s still 200 meters.
The Pros and Cons
It does teach you to run curve-straight-curve…
It does teach you to mentally “pick it up” as you approach the 2nd curve (see Clyde Hart’s Event 300 meter workouts)
It does break up the mental programming of 200 meter sprinters with just the curve and straight.
For those who have tried this, please post your comments below. Sometimes you have to think out of the box. In this case, out of the oval.
Jimson Lee
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When you say start at the 350 and end at the 150, that means you are running a straight-curve-straight, no? Unless, you mean start 50 in (350 left to go) and end at the 250 (150 left to go)?
@JR, I was using descending marks (start = 400). If the start line is 0 meters, then the workout is 50 – 250m. From the middle of the curve to the middle of the curve.
I do 200’s like this based on Bud Winter’s recommendations. He tells you to come out hard, float, and then kick when running 200’s and it has already helped me kick near the finish of a 200 meter race. I have to imagine that the visual cues will make me do the same thing in a 400 meter race (when passing the 200 meter mark); I have already done it in practice when running 320’s.