The Atlanta Track Club had originally scheduled the All-Comers Track Meet, including two runnings of the 400-meter dash on May 12 and May 26. These events were cancelled a couple of months ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I told Coach Carl that I still wanted to run a 400-meter time trial on one of these two dates.
I even asked Carl about a training plan for 400-meter races, because I knew nothing more than "haul ass, stay in your lane, try not to die" which was my strategy in a 400-meter race in 2015, completing the distance in 1:23.38. Carl recommended against training for this distance. To quote, "It's a lot of really high-intensity, hating-life type work ... The 400m is definitely in the discussion for most painful track race (with other contenders being the 800m, steeplechase, and 400 hurdles)."
To prepare, I watched a few YouTube videos in the preceding week. The most helpful was narrated by Fallon Heddings because of the relative simplicity of her advice, per 100 meter segment:
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| PUSH PACE POWER PRAY |
I could remember those stages in the midst of running. The funniest video was from Latif Thomas, who managed to talk for 18 minutes about not vomiting in the 400 meter race, a distance that I hoped to complete in less than 90 seconds without spewing. He had several more segments, breaking the race into the first 5 steps, the remainder of the first 50 meters, floating through the 50 - 200 meter stage, and re-investing in the race from 200 - 310 meters. His advice for the last 90 meters was essentially the same as Fallon Heddings:
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| "PRAY. If you don't believe in God, make something up!" |
For inspiration, I watched a few videos of Michael Johnson running 400 meters, in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and a world record-breaking run in 1999.
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| Remember Michael Johnson's golden racing flats?! |
I ran the time trial on the track at Tucker Middle School. The track is an old asphalt surface with six lanes, but most of the marks are badly faded. The goalposts haven't been painted in years, and the goalpost on the east end of the field is sagging a few degrees to the right. The net on the tennis court presents only a minor barrier to the ball. A large branch of a mimosa tree hangs over the track just past 50 meters. It reminds me of the mimosa tree that I enjoyed climbing in the front yard of my childhood home, incidentally the site of my first kiss. But that's another story ....
On the track, there aren't any divots in lane 1, other than a little muddy spot just past 200 meters. Early on Monday morning, I ran 4 miles at an easy pace, mentally practicing the stages of PUSH - PACE - POWER - PRAY but not actually racing anything. I finished the run with four 15-second strides for the only speedwork on the day. I hadn't felt alert or energized until the end of the workout, when the first stride literally "turned on the lights", mentally waking me up. Note to self: before I run the time trial, finish my warmup with a couple of strides!
I had planned to run the time trial on Tuesday evening, close to the time of day that the All-Comers Meet was originally scheduled. But when I arrived at Tucker Middle School around 7 pm, a couple of dozen people were walking the track, and a group of kids were playing soccer on the infield. Having spent the day writing up a detailed plan for re-opening my research laboratory while adhering to physical distancing protocols, I quickly abandoned the idea of running the time trial around so many people. I checked the weather report for Wednesday morning, saw a 40% chance of rain starting at 6 am, and decided to set an early alarm and try an early morning run, when I was pretty sure that I would have the track to myself, even if I had to run in the rain.
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| Bonnie cut my hair last week, to decrease air resistance while running. |
5:15 am, a mid-week "ass o'clock" alarm sounded. Bonnie gently poked me, I turned off the alarm, and within a few minutes was out of bed, getting dressed, and eating a light breakfast. Around 6 am, I drove 3 miles from home to Tucker Middle School, stepping onto the track a few minutes before sunrise. No rain yet! I warmed up with a couple of easy miles, finishing the workout with two 15-second strides. Today I was already awake before doing the strides, but it felt good to run fast even briefly.
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| Toeing the line |
After taking a couple of sips of water, and a few rounds of dynamic leg swings, it was time to start. I stepped up to the line marking the start-finish area, made sure that my watch was synched and ready, took a deep breath, and, and ...
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| The first steps make or break the race |
PUSH!! Remembering the "alactic" stage, I started running as fast as possible. The 50 meter point came up quickly, past the mimosa tree, and nearing the end of the bend. I felt a good rhythm, felt like I was running really fast, but certainly under control. I thought about the principle of "whiplash" as I came off the bend, into the ...
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| 50 meters in the time trial |
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| Coming off of the first turn |
PACE zone. The idea was to conserve energy, "floating" down the straightaway, maintaining the pace that I had established through the bend. I felt good, and resisted the temptation to glance at my watch. I was running fast enough. It didn't take long to approach the 200 meter area. After running past the muddy spot, it was time to ...
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| Just past 200 meters |
POWER! The phrase "re-invest in the race" fit perfectly. I went through the motion of acceleration, although I didn't feel like I had been moving that slowly to this stage. But it was liberating to know that I was more than halfway through the time trial, and nothing hurt, not yet. Coming off the last turn, I began to ...
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| The final straightaway. The finish line is past the second trailer. |
PRAY!! But I was so prepared for the last 100 meters that it didn't seem too bad. I just kept pushing myself, driving myself forward. I knew exactly where the finish line was located, even though I could not see the faded white line until I was a few meters away. I fought the temptation to back off knowing that I was nearly done, until I had crossed the line and reached across my body to stop the watch, oops hit the wrong button, got it right on the second try.
1:31.9, 0.40 km
If I was a little disappointed that I hadn't run a little faster, I was very happy with my technical execution of the race. I didn't feel exhausted at 200 or 300 meters, so perhaps that is where I can improve. I also realized that the 1:23 time that I had run in 2015 was recorded by another person acting as the timer, not by myself, so I probably ran closer to 1:30. I walked a lap to let my heart rate settle down, then ran one mile at an easy pace to cooldown.
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| I really did stay in lane 1 from start to finish. I guess my left arm and the watch were hanging out over the infield. |
I seriously considered trying a second time trial this morning, but realized that might risk injury, and probably also disappointment, if I ran fast again without taking the time to recover. Nonetheless I left today's time trial thinking that I want to try this again soon, perhaps working it into weekly speed work, to get closer to my edge.
So let's see how I did:
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| Pace is the blue line, the heart rate is red. |
I don't know the accuracy of my watch, based on the map above. But it looks like I didn't start out very fast. I reached the desired pace as I came off the first bend, then slowed as I floated down the backstretch. My pace increased on the second turn as I re-invested in the race, and held steady through the finish line, if the graphic can be trusted.
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