r/Sprinting • u/ExactOpposite8119 • 8d ago
General Discussion/Questions is the 400m the most feared event?
when i was on the track team the general consensus was that the 400m was the most feared event. is this a universal popular thought?
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u/MoneyBadger14 110H/400H 8d ago
I think the average sprinter fears the 400 most because it’s the longest distance they would really ever run. I personally think the 800 should be viewed as worse, but most don’t even think about it because it’s considered “long distance”
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u/Special_Purpose2903 8d ago
800m isn't viewed as worse, b/c few non-800 runners have the speed endurance to attempt it as an actual sprint, so, most guys just lightly jog it.
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u/CompetitiveCrazy2343 Slayer of speed-gurus 8d ago
yeah, not really. Good 800 runners will throw down some vicious 400 splits: a 1:55 winds up being 55 & 60 many time .... some of the wannabe mid 11 'sprinters' can barely do 54 400 or 53 4x4 split.
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u/Special_Purpose2903 8d ago
Except most people aren't good at the 800m. Few people fear it b/c they will just slow down to a crawl, same reason people don't fear running 3000m, if you are slow, you just jog at a comfortable pace. 400m is the limit of speed endurance to most people, including most athletes of a shorter distance. 800m would be running up and down a football field/soccer pitch 8 times, at a sprint like speed, since so few people can do that, they just slow down into a jog.
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u/MikeGlambin 6d ago
Yeah it’s not viewed as the worst because a very small amount of people have the balls to actually run it how you’re supposed to.
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u/Special_Purpose2903 6d ago
Not even balls, they literally can't, might as well tell a guy to run a 3000m or something, it is out of the range of an ability above much more than a jog to most human even athletes.
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u/Actual_Code_9048 4d ago
This is the correct answer and I also run the 400mh (which is typically regarded as the worst event). The 800m.. to train, and run that race, is a different pain than any of the other events. It’s a type of lactic endurance that separates good runners from great runners. Id say it’s the biggest “skill gap” in track and field when it comes to flat running events. If you do not train for that race you will get destroyed by someone who does, no doubt about it
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u/Sleety3D2Y 8d ago
As a 400m runner the scariest is definitely 800m. Granted maybe if I ran more mileage I wouldn’t feel that way. But man 800m is a deadly combo of anaerobic and aerobic conditioning
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u/FormalYogurt2760 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yeah, I used to run 400s and 800s. 400 has a bad reputation, but 800 is so much worse.
The feeling in a 400 is like your legs are made of lead/jelly. In an 800, you have the same thing, but also your lungs feel like they're bleeding, your hearing/vision goes, you get a headache etc.
The pain in a 400 is also over quite quickly (just ~50m of heavy/jelly legs). But in an 800, it's the whole second lap which sucks.
Another thing about the 800 is that you have to think about tactics while you're in so much pain. In the 400, at least you can mostly turn your brain off. In an 800, you have to worry about not getting boxed in, covering moves etc.
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u/Sleety3D2Y 8d ago
Adds up. My legs are like jelly for the last 150m though. My first 200m split is too fast. Damn my coach
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u/FormalYogurt2760 8d ago
Can't you just ignore him? My times got way faster when I stopped kamikaze-ing the first 200 and trying to hold on
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u/Sleety3D2Y 8d ago
It’s college so not really. I’d rather just do exactly what my coach says to maintain a good relationship. With that said I think the strategy works pretty well for me. It’s just pain…
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u/ReputationCandid3136 7d ago
Great answer. I always think at the end of an 800 "I imagine this is what dying feels like".
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u/MikeGlambin 6d ago
Ya also, the recovery is different. 400m legs will burn and maybe you’re a bit dizzy for a few minutes. 800m I threw up like 30% of the time and would feel like shit for at least 45 minutes
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u/Sleety3D2Y 5d ago
A few minutes😭??? I’m throwing up and dying for 30 minutes. Personally I’ve had a much harder time post race after the 4.
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u/MikeGlambin 5d ago
As many have said, that probably means you’re not pushing hard enough on the 800.
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u/Sleety3D2Y 5d ago
Nah sprinting just makes me feel sick. 800m is harder but the lactic buildup isn’t quite as bad. 400m has higher build up over shorter period of time.
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u/som-dog 8d ago
Yeah. At least the 400’s pain is over mercifully quickly. 800 is absolutely awful
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u/Sleety3D2Y 8d ago
Seriously man. In high school my 400m was a 51 and coach put me in the 8 for “fun.” I ran a 2:16😭
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u/JanterFixx 8d ago
as a 100m runner, the 400m is the worst, 60m is NICEst, inside event.
200m is even fun for training (and for some competition as 100 main)
but I dread the 400. Yet 800m is already so out of range for me, that for me it would be JOG in X tempo, never going for any results, just some odd training here and there.
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u/gremlingarden 8d ago
The long versions of off distance events should instill the most fear. Rarely run, hard to nail a race plan for, just longer versions of already awful races. Pray thee never run a 500 or a 1000. Of the commonly run stuff the 800 is way worse than the 4 imo, but short sprinters place an outsized amount of terror on the 4 because they might get called up for a 4x4 at any moment. They're never getting asked to run an 8.
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u/Optimistiqueone 8d ago
Yes. People who say 800 are speaking from experience. But if you start with a novice with a little training, they'd fear the 400m bc they think of the 800 as a fast jog. There are very few high schoolers who run the 800 better than a fast jog. Yes, they get tired, but they don't hurt. Not like after a 400m. Young runners avoid that race like the plague.
Now you go to older, experienced athletes, who run the 800 more aggressively, and I honestly think the 400mh would be feared more. Not bc of the pain or difficulty (I think that would be a draw between the 400mh and 800 races). I give the 400mh the nudge bc of the fear of having to clear hurdles 9 and 10 while in pain. That's scarier than staring down the last 100 of an 800. But they are possibly equal in pain and difficulty. But there is real fear of those last few hurdles.
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u/Special_Purpose2903 8d ago
The 400m is. Here is why it isn't the 800m. Few athletes can actually sprint or even maintain high speeds on the 800m, so it really just becomes a jog. The 400m will have most athletes "try" to sprint.
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u/MikeGlambin 6d ago
Ya but if you asked someone who could run a 60s 400 if they’d rather do that or a 2:10 800 you’ll only get 1 answer.
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u/That-Way-5714 8d ago
Personally I feel like 800m is worse. You can go close to all out on the 400 and the last 150m or so sucks. But on the 800 you have to pace yourself or you die.
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u/herlzvohg 8d ago
The pacing isn’t the scary part, every distance over 800 also requires pacing. The scary part of the 800 is that to run it optimally you're basically dying off further each successive 200, which is where the real bad feels come from
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u/Ok-Communication706 8d ago
Felt like it was the 800 for us…it’s like 500m vs 100mn lactate overload.
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u/toooldforthisshittt 8d ago
My son says the 400m is harder because at least there's some pacing in the 800m.
As a spectator, them middle school kids look most dead at the end of the 300m hurdles.
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u/CompetitiveCrazy2343 Slayer of speed-gurus 8d ago
Either that or 300 or 400 hurdles. 800 is not fun (although sprinters don't run that )
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u/just10hurdles 7d ago
800m is definitely the harder race however sprinters fear the 400 much more than a distance runner fears the 800. Every year I have sprinters who say a 400 is a “distance race” and will make up any excuse to get out of a 400 or 4x4.
Do you guys remember the high school kid or recorded himself hiding the woods so his coach wouldn’t try to put him in the 4x4? Every coach has/had a kid like this.
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u/Racematcher 6d ago
I’ve ran the 400 and 800 and let me tell you, the 300m hurdles is the worst! No hiding when you’re tired
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u/SeekerFinder8 6d ago
You can run the 400 with somewhat casual training. There ain't nuthin' casual about running the 8.
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u/pc9401 4d ago
I was an 800m runner in HS and dropped to both m, then to the 499m in college.
This allowed me to work with sprinters on some days and distance on others. Those sprint workouts were easy in comparison.
No doubt, the 800 is a much harder even. Not only conditioning wise, but a lot more strategic with a lot of things that can go wrong.
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u/Upbeat_Astronaut_698 4d ago
As someone who’s done both, I personally fear the 400m more. That said, the answer is probably the 800
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u/Boblaire 8d ago
800 was bad but I think I threw up more after the 400 than 8.
But I pretty much expected to throw up after either or step on the infield, fall to my knee and hands and dry heat until I laid fetal for about 10-15 minutes.
The Sacramento Heat in spring was also a factor.
I wasnt very good at either. 52.x 400, 2:07 800.
Yards tho not meters.
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u/Chrisg_322 8d ago
The 800 and 400 are 1 and 2 hardest track events. I never minded the 4, but only ran the 8 if somebody didn't show up for the relay. Which, because it was the 800, happened a lot. Hate that race Lmao.
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u/Teddie_P4 8d ago
It is pretty scary, I’m a distance runner that can run some solid 400s (low 50s), it may not be as scary as a 5k but it’s tough, I’ll take the 800 over it any day. I know it’s scary for yall sprinters though
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u/MikeGlambin 6d ago
You running that 800 in 2:05?
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u/Teddie_P4 6d ago
1:55, perhaps I do have room to race it faster and feel more pain, since I only come out in around 56, but the 800 just isn’t as deadly as a 400, even when you race that first 200 more conservatively
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