filip bossuyt from Kortrijk, Belgium, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In a sport known for pushing the body to its absolute limit, one event stands avobe the rest. A race where no amount of talent or training can spare you from the crushing pain at the finish. A blend of technique, speed and endurance. That´s run right on the razor´s edge of phylosophy and grit. Welcome to the beauty and the brutality of the 400 m.

400 m is just a single lap around the track. Not exactly an intimiditing distance. How could it possibly be the most difficult defendant track and field? On the one hand there are the challenges in the middle to longer distances, the ones that requiere massive aerobic capacity, extended focus, race tactics… The thing with those longer races is they allow room for pacing moments to recover. Even a stride or two taken less imperfectly. You might even have time to hype up the crowd. Then there are the shorter sprints. Although they requiere technical precision, massive amount of power and leave pretty much no room for error, they´re simply over too quickly. These subject the athlete to a momentary blast, not a prolonged struggle.

The 400 m is technically a long sprint and practically it´s a theater of pain even at the highest level.

THE START

It so in any event longer than the 400, the start´s pretty unremarkable with a quick shuffle to the line, a brief pause and off they go. The start of the 400 is vastly more challenging. That´s because it involves one of the most technical elements in the sport: the block start. Now in the 400 you can´t win the race at the start, but you can certainly lose it. So what makes block start so difficult?

First, a good block start requires precise technique we find over hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. You got the body angles, the timing of force application, the path of the back foot, the distance of the first step…

Then, there´s the sheer physical demand. From a dead standstill, athletes have to launch their body forward creating inmese linear force.

And of course, then you got the mental component: the split-second reaction to the starters pistol. And then, that ever looming threat of a false start.

It´s a race that begins with inmediate pressure. Then things get complicated.

PHASE ONE: 0-50 M

So the crux of the race comes down to one of the few indisputable facts in track and field, which is “No person on the planet can run the 400 all out from start to finish”. The reason why it comes down to how the body creates energy and the way it does so during the 400 is the most painful. An easy way to understand it is that you have three energy systems to power movement. They work on a continuum and there are individual differences, but no matter what when intensity is high energy comes at a price.

So during the first 50 m of the race, the body uses inmediate energy stored as ATP and phosphocreatine. Think of this as your body´s version of a short sharp rocket booster. So this energy is rapid and intense, but it´s very shortlived. It´s usually expanded within the first 6 to 10 seconds. So at the start of the race, athletes unleash it, pushing from 90 to 100% of their max right from the gun.

PHASE TWO: 50-200 M

After the initial burst, runners transition into a phase that sustains a a high but not maximum speed, so now we´re on to the second energy source called anaerobic glycolisis. As this fuel´s created, we´ve got lactate and the associated hydrogen ions, which to simplify we´re just going to refer to as lactic acid. This byproduct causes the muscles to burn and impairs function. If this is a shorter sprint like the 100 or 200 m, this isn´t a concern.

The race is over well before lactic acid becomes a factor. This is where strategy in the 400 is paramount. If you go too fast too soon, you´re going to accumulate lactid acid well beyond what the body can handle. You can´t ease off that much either. So you got to maintain a near peak pace without tapping out your reserves cuz at the end of this phase you´re only halfway there.

PHASE THREE: 200-300 M

This is where the third energy system comes into play: the aerobic glycolisis. It´s a shift from quick but limited energy production to a more efficient process that can support prolonged endurance. But again there´s a catch aerobic energy isn´t created nearly as fast, which means there´s a looming energy crisis on the horizon. Energy demand will soon outstrip supply, setting the stage of an intense showdto own of physiological limits in the final phase of the race.

PHASE FOUR: 300-400 M

This is what it all comes down to the fourth stage is chaos prevails, especially if you didn´t get the other phases right. But even if you did get the other phases right, the final stretch is still hell on Earth, just as anyone who´s run the race will attest.

At this point the body is on the brink of exhausting its anaerobic energy reserves. The body attemps to fill the energy gaps with more aerobic energy. But because it´s a slower process, it´s struggles to match the immediate and intense demands of the sprint. And the rising acidity within the muscles not noly induces agonizing pain, but it´s also starting to impair muscular function.

This is where the true mental battle begins to unfold. Not one of tactics but one guts. The final stretch is not just a race against competitors. It´s a duel between an athlete´s drive to succeed and the overwhelming desire to ease the pain. This crucible, this intense showdown of heart and mind is what defines the essence at the 400 meters.

Bibliographic references:

• Outperform. (2023). Is The 400m the HARDEST EVENT in Track and Field? [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/D0Zh0bT8OuM?si=shmLT8z2a1QRxncc