A lot of 400m runners treat top speed like it's a 100m thing… and I get why, because the 400 hurts so much that it feels like an endurance event. But it's still a sprint, and if you never train your top speed, you're putting a cap on how fast you can ever run.
My first year running the 400 I focused on max speed instead of tempos and long runs, and I ran well. Years later, a lot of what got me to 45.03 still comes back to that same idea.
Why does top speed matter in the 400m?
Every race you run is run at a percentage of your top speed. If your max goes up, the same race pace costs you less, so you can run the first 200 more relaxed and have more left when everyone else starts to tie up.
Sport scientists have a name for that gap between your top speed and the pace you can hold aerobically: the speed reserve. A 2024 study on elite 400m sprinters found that max sprint speed was the strongest predictor of 400m personal bests, with aerobic speed second. It was a small study (18 athletes) and it shows a link rather than proof, so I wouldn't treat it like a law. But it lines up with what I've seen in myself and in the athletes I coach.
I do want to be honest here, because the 400 can be run in different ways. Some athletes succeed with less top speed and more volume, and at this point in my own career speed is no longer my only limiting factor. Holding on to my speed at the end matters just as much for me right now. Still, you can only hold the speed you actually have, which is why max velocity stays in my training all year.
My favorite max velocity session
If I had to pick one, it would be 3x70 meters with 8 minutes rest. The first 30 meters are all about acceleration, pushing and building, and the last 40 are almost like a fly, where you're already moving and just letting your top speed happen.
Three reps doesn't sound like a lot, and that's the point. Every rep should be close to the fastest you can run that day, and the 8 minutes is what makes that possible. Your muscles need a few minutes to restore the energy they use for all-out sprinting, and your body needs even longer before it can produce truly fast reps again. If you cut the rest short you're not training top speed anymore, you're training to be tired at slightly slower speeds.
How often should you train max velocity?
For me it's never more than once a week. In the fall I touch top speed more often, and once I'm in season there are weeks where we don't do it at all, because racing is already doing that job.
Also remember that you need spikes to reach true max velocity. In the first weeks of the fall I'm in flats and on grass, so the real top speed work comes once I'm back in spikes. Until then, acceleration in the warm-up keeps that quality alive.
Should you time your flys?
Honestly, I don't. Almost everything I've done has been hand-timed, through all of college and with Coach Rovelto, and only with the Dutch national team did I use timing a bit more.
I think timing is a bit overrated for 400m runners. For short sprinters it can really help to understand where you need to improve. But if you're someone who gets obsessed with metrics, it can mess you over too. Chasing a 30m fly PB every week is not the goal. The goal is executing the rep well, enjoying the work and improving over time, and when you do that the PBs come as a by-product.
What this looks like in practice
Train top speed once a week at most, with full rest between reps.
Keep the reps short and the quality high, around 3 to 4 fast reps instead of 10 tired ones.
Build into the fast part with 20 to 30 meters of acceleration so you hit top speed already moving.
Do your real max velocity work in spikes, and keep acceleration in the warm-up when you're not in them.
Care more about how the rep felt and looked than about the number on the clock.
Top speed is the one quality I'd never take out of a sprinter's program, even for a 400m runner who already has plenty of it.
Want sessions like this in your plan?
Every EO Fitness plan has speed work built in, adjusted to your event, your level and where you are in the season.
