Race strategy for the 300m run at the Reggie Lewis Center. 

Beast!!! Congrats! Keep tearing it up.

Demoralize and conquer. Sounds like you got it figured out.

How has your son grown and developed since this last post?

@XavierGarciaFilms thanks for asking. He did great last track season. He ran 100m, 200 meter and 4 by 100. He was fighting a back injury which forced him to miss the district meet. He had stress fracture, he actually won 200 meter with stress fracture. All good now starting football at receiver. I tried to emphasize points that you teach relax, relax and control. It's hard to make 14 yr Olds remember this

Amazing! My Junior year of high school I remember taking a nasty chop block to the knee that caused for a hairline fracture on my patella. That fracture was a real pain to heal from. I hope he’s able to recover quickly. Keep us filled in with how he does this year!

Every race requires strategy. Even the 55m (60m) sprint is not an “all out race”. There’s a drive phase, an acceleration phase, a coast and the closing. And depending on how intense with your strategy you want to get, each of those races can also incorporate different breathing techniques, etc. So, although you’re right, that the 300m is a “sprint”, it still requires strategy if you plan on beating elite competition.

Thanks for the info

Always my pleasure.

I’ve personally not had any experience with a 300M oval as an outdoor track so I’m not expertly aware of how such a tight circle would affect mechanics and approach. However, my theory would be that; yes, attack the 300m on a 300m outdoor track precisely the same way you would a 400m. With two exceptions. 1st. If possible (and not based on random draw or seeding) request the most outside lane. A 300m oval is TIGHT. You’ll be fighting inertia and turn mechanics the entire way. You’ll lose precious time on the inside. On a standard Eight-Lane 400m track, lane 1 is considered the worst and lane 6 the best. Personally, lane 7 is better. And if you know how to run from ahead, lane 8 is the best. My second advice when running a 300m on a 300m outdoor track is, although you’re running it like the Quarter smile, keep in mind that its 100m less. Your body won’t break down nearly as much toward the end of the 300m. That’s precious fuel you can use in the earlier phases of your race and arrive at the finish line truly spent. So… start faster. And kick in your closing drive earlier. Don’t wait until the final 100m to accelerate, because at that point its too late. The a athletes who typically run the 200m will be too far ahead for you to catch if you wait too long for that closing re-acceleration.

I don’t know of any 400m indoor tracks. And unless you’re in the New England area, the 300mIH is substituted with the more traditional 400m hurdles. Nevertheless, if you’re running the 300m on a 400m track, the race strategy is much different. Like the 300 Intermediate Hurdles, you will be starting on the far straight-away and end on the back stretch, into the 400m finish line. What’s different here is that you’ve only got ONE turn. The opening straight-away is your best friend here because unlike the 200m, you can start on a straight shot and really work a powerful & explosive block start without having to lean into the curve. Use that to your advantage and come out of your blocks as if it is the 100m. (Most people don’t do this because they’re afraid they’ll gas out). Get a solid 40m explosive start and settle into the first half of the turn. You definitely want to accelerate BEFORE the turn ends because you want to slingshot into the straight away at near 100% EFFORT (you don’t have 100% speed left in the tank at this point but you still have 100% effort). Lactic Acidosis will kick in hard at the 250m mark. This is where you bring it home as RELAXED, CONTROLLED and in RHYTHM as possible. The times at each 100m break will undoubtedly vary from a banked 200m track. This you’d have to play around with at practice on your own. But you definitely want to be breaking 11 seconds on that 1st 100m if you want to come near the 00:35 - 00:36sec mark.

@@XavierGarciaFilms so would you say sprint the first 100 meters at 100% then float for 50 meters then build up till the last 120 meters then sprint all out again?

@@rhinotv3646 no. 0m - 40m = I00% effort start 40m - 150m = 90% effort run 150m - 200m = accelerate to 99% effort 200m - End = maintain 99% effort And when the body starts to want to break down, maintain FORM, maintain BREATHING pattern, RELAX as much as humanly possible and FOCUS on a point BEYOND the finish line (not just the finish line, but PAST it). Note: I say 99% effort because after that initial 40m start, you will NOT be able to get that fresh sprint strength back. If you don’t use it… you lose it.

@@XavierGarciaFilms bet thank you

@@XavierGarciaFilms can you give us the effort rates for each portion of the race