In 2008, the IAAF New Studies in Athletics’ asked Victor Lopez, the Chairman of the IAAF Coaches Commission and a long-time friend of Hart, to get Hart to speak about the fundamentals of his approach to training 400m runners.
New Studies in Athletics: What does it take to perform well in the 400m?
Clyde Hart:: It is important for 400m runners to follow proper race strategy in order to obtain the best results. We like to use what we call the 4 P’s:
- PUSH – the first 50m hard.
- PACE – It is important that the runner knows prior to the race after consultation with his coach, what their time should be for the first 200m of the race.
- POSITION – the runner must use the third 100m to evaluate his position in the race and determine if he needs to continue at the present pace or if more effort is necessary to put him in a better position going into the final 100m.
- POISE – This is the most difficult of the four segments. Not knowing exactly the status of your runner at this point it is difficult for the coach to advise the runner anything other than to maintain their poise, good technique, and stay as relaxed as possible to prevent the onslaught of fatigue.
(SpeedEndurance.com NOTE: see Michael Johnson’s racing strategy in the 400 meters)
NSA: Which type athlete has the most potential to improve the worlds best performance in the 400m: the speed or the speed-endurance type of sprinter?
Hart: I classify all 400m runners into two categories. Type A 200/400 and Type B 400/800. I feel that the Type A runners have a potential to show more improvement simply from the fact that I have found it easier to develop endurance in type A runners than to develop speed in type B runners. This is because speed is inherited to a high degree and can only be improved by very marginal amounts, whereas endurance and strength can be developed through hard work and time.
NSA: How do you balance training contents covering endurance and speed? To what extent have they to be adapted to the individual?
Hart: We balance training for endurance and speed by first classifying each runner to make sure they fall into either of the A or B type categories. Once this is done, their training regiment can be adapted to make sure that we are training them towards their strengths and training to supplement their weaknesses. Our general philosophy is really pretty simple. We believe in going from quantity to quality.
NSA: How do you identify
- over-training?
- the speed-barrier?
- over-acidosis?
Hart: Keeping a daily training log helps us to identify if an athlete is possibly over training. I think it is essential that the coach monitor the amount that the athlete is doing in any given week. In regard to speed barrier, this is an area that we have never had a problem thus, I am not in a position to give you a fair evaluation as to how to identify such a problem. I feel strongly in limiting the amount of hard sprinting in practice. Knowing that it is necessary in such areas as starts and relay exchanges, we make exceptions. Otherwise, most of our hard sprinting is done in 60m distances with a 40m swing-down. By limiting hard sprinting, we not only protect the athlete from possible injuries but we are able to run more repetitions in practice. There are several ways to control the build up of lactic acid: by controlling the speed of the run, the distance to the run, and the amount of rest that is needed for recovery. The coach will have to determine which of these factors is contributing the most to the athlete not recovering sufficiently in training. In most cases, I have found that too short of a recovery time is the cause.
NSA: To what extent does strength has an influence on the result in the 400m and what type of strength is required?
Hart: Strength certainly has a major influence on the results of the 400m. Simply put, strength and speed are synonymous. Strength must be developed both through running and strength training in the weight room. Strength training for our 400m runners starts with endurance training in the autumn – long continuous runs varying from 5 miles (8 km) down to 800m. As they enter into the pre-competition period, the distances will be below 800m and will decrease all the way down 450m. As the distance to be run decreases, the effort of the run increases in proportion. This is only one example of strength running. I can’t go into all of the types of training available to the coach, but I would recommend that early on in the training up-hill running be incorporated because I feel it is a great strength and endurance method. In regards to development of strength in the weight room, in the early season our 400m runners are doing the standard Olympic type lifts and as the competitive season approaches a more specific weight training program, emphasizing mainly the core system is adapted.
NSA: How do you plan a competition period?
Hart: We plan competitive period with the philosophy that we never want to compete, if possible, more than three weeks in a row. This insures that we will have a week of no competition that we can go back and re-load our athletes for the next session of competition.
NSA: What is your approach to peaking?
Hart: I do not believe in the term "peaking". I believe that with proper scheduling and reloading throughout the course of the competitive season athletes can reach several high levels of performance and still be at their best at the end of the season.
NSA: What preventive measures do you apply for avoiding running/sprinting specific injuries?
Hart: Making sure that your athletes warm up and cool down properly is essential in every practice and competition. This routine should involve at least 15-20 minutes of running with the speed of the run gradually getting faster. This is followed another 15-20 minutes of stretching. I believe athletes should be taught that light stretching should continue during the workout to make sure flexibility is maintained. For athletes who have a tendency to have sore legs, running on a level grass area as much as possible is recommended. For us, minimizing hard sprinting in training sessions is very important for reducing injuries. This one factor, I feel, has cut down our injuries in the past and at the same time allowed us to develop a system that incorporates quite a bit of volume in training. Finally, ice and cold tub treatment after practice will help your athletes’ legs to recover and they will be better prepared for the next day’s sessions.
Half i agree with, half i don’t. Love the stuff about hill training, race strategy, ice baths and monitoring volume and rest. Not too sure about he’s philosophy on speed gains being marginal, quantity over quality, long runs, stretching & warmup procedure. But hey, each to their own…………
Paul Graham
You didn’t read his philosophy properly… It’s not Quantity over quality but rather going from Quantity to Quality. His training is build on a pyramid system from early season to the competition season. I actually just attended one of his lecture in Florida where he really explained the whole yearly process! I recommend you attend one of his lectures to fully understand his approach! And it works as he’s had proven results over and over!
I also want to see more of this kirani james in the summer. Hopefully he won’t get injured somehow.
Well he just happens to be the best 400m coach ever so I’d buy into more than half his stuff…
Hart is a great coach, but he is also lucky that he recruits high school boys with sub 21 second speed for 200 meters. Give me a 20.80 high school kid, and I could make him run 45, as long as I don’t screw him up. 44 or 43 is another ball game.
Indeed recruiting talent is the key! Developing those talented kids is the next challenge! This is were good coaching comes in!
My thoughts exactley Jimson! Taking someone to a 43 is a job well done.
Ok, maybe more than half he’s stuff is good, but refering to the article here, static stretching makes you slower and increases chance of injury, Long warm-up runs will not optimally prepare the body & CNS for fast sprinting, Long runs make you slower by increasing slow twitch muscle fibre e.t.c., speed gains are not what i would call “marginal” unless of course you have a 19/20 second 200m runner poping into your group. This is about 50%……..
You hit the nail on the head, Jimson.
If you’re dealing with a more ‘realistic’ setting, I think the answer is the same as it is with most things in life: find a happy medium. I don’t think ‘all speed, all the time’ is an effective approach. I don’t think training like an 800m runner until the last 3 weeks of the season is an effective approach. I employ an ‘ends to the middle’ philosophy. Short to long with my speed work and long to short with my tempo/special endurance. Ultimately it’s probably a different way of explaining the Triangle Training Method Marc Mangiacotti talks about in his 100m program as I know he follows the same approach with his 400 types.
I’ve used a structure similar to Marc Mangiacotti’s “Triangle Training Method”. It’s good to know we share the same philosophy.
Having a sub 21sec 200m athlete and believing you can have them run 45’s quite easily is (to me) a little foolish. Look at the HS, Collegiate and Professional athletes and they are clearly much more sub 21 sec 200m runners then sub 46sec 400m runners…..I also think some of you are not considering that this is a VERY short article as related to the 400m and there were alot of things not addressed in detail that maybe you should look into…….Yes, static stretching can make you slower, long run warm ups are not optimal for preparing the body for a track workout and also subtract from your speed however you are not considering that you need static stretching (alot, No…but you need them) also consider that a majority of coaches incorporate drills in their warmups and usually after static stretching this (in my opinion) takes away from the static stretching concern i think is being emphasized. I think this article is moer general than specific…..Also consider tht Michael Johnson was a 21.3 HS 200m runner and in his freshman year at Baylor broke the school record and ran a 20.41…….I attribute a lot of that to coaching.
Lastly Carey said it the best, Clyde Hart is the best 400m coach ever. Take a look at his resume, take a look at his 400m and 4x400m athletes and times during his current tenure at Baylor. The proof is in the pudding.
@ Fred,
I dont think anyone said a 45 is easy but it appears to be very achievable (not that i’ve ever worked with a 45 guy). The guy wrote what he wrote, and i happen to disagree with half of it, completely. Of course we are all entitled to our opinion, but i base mine on science, personal experience, and logic. Penultimatley, it is the success of the ones we coach which determines how successful we are as a coach, and Hart certainly has a good record there. Therefore he could be considered one of the “greats”, but there are many more aspects to take into consideration when judging “who” is the greatest.
I also write articles on my blog, and i’m pretty sure i’ll disagree with some of my own work in years to come, but my philosophy will stay the same because i know it works. You’ll never be a good coach if you can’t improve the athletes that come into your group.
Paul Graham
http://www.sprintcoaching.wordpress.com
BTW, i am writing this half way through watching Rocky 3, which is where all this “greatest” talk is probably steming from :)
on another topic, even if I had a 45.99 400m runner, the hard part is keeping him motivated to run well enough to be a finalist at the WC or OG. Until he gets a medal, there isn’t a *lot* of money to be made with a shoe contract.
How much money can a medalist expect these days?
There are always different ways to train athletes but no matter which principles you follow…. you still can get similar results – For me a lots of things clyde hart says make sense but also Marc Mangiacotti has some really interesting points. Personally I prefer stuff of Loren Seagrave. Speaking of speed reserve and the endurance type for 400m – – I think it is rather the athlete`s potential and his training at younger ages which influences his “optimal” type of training methods for his later career….
But no matter how successful some coaches are – we never really know how they achieved their success….. and for me one key point to bare in mind is that sport science is not like physics – we now know that the globe is not a disc – but in terms of sport science – we haven t passed this stage now….. We have to evaluate our results and to interpret them correctly…. In the end I think there won`t be a general trainings concept for every type of athlete….
Mangiacotti has some really interesting points. Personally I prefer stuff of Loren Seagrave. Speaking of speed reserve and the endurance type for 400m – – I think it is rather the athlete`s potential and his training at younger ages which influences his “optimal” type of training methods for his later career….
But no matter how successful some coaches are – we never really know how they achieved their success….. and for me one key point to bare in mind is that sport science is not like physics – we now know that the globe is not a disc – but in terms of sport science – we haven t passed this stage now….. We have to evaluate our results and to interpret them correctly…. In the end I think there won`t be a general trainings concept for every type of athlete….
@Philipp, I think all apprentice coaches should take a bit of everything from everyone, and blend their own methods. Every coach I meet gives me a “ah ha” moment that I incorporate into my plan, and that list includes Hart, Seagrave, Dan Pfaff, Tom Tellez, Bud Winter, Gerard Mach, Charlie Francis, Kevin Tyler, etc.
Some 400m sprinters just HATE overdistance work, and they thrive on the short speed, so why push 3 x 600m to them? A split 400 (whether it’s 300-100 or 200-200) is much better for them psychologically.
@ Paul….and everyone else,
Excellent points, which I will keep in mind. Thank you all for your advice, opinions, web links, etc. As a young (almost) Masters athlete (only 34 yrs) with an old lower back/pelvis injury from a car accident right out of HS it’s quite challenging to educate myself into correcting the injury while developing a workout program…while juggling a job & a family. HOWEVER this website, its links and great blogs have made it easier.
Thank you all for what you do, it truly is appreciated.
I have used his stuff for over 10 years. It works. I coach HS, just imagine if I had the whole year to do the workouts.