In the spirit of both seeking challenges and corny puns, I decided to kick off this year with a footrace against the clock to see how fast I could run 400 meters.
I’ve never considered myself a fast runner; I chose distance over sprinting when I joined my high school track team sophomore year and stuck with that for all 3 years. But now that my focus is strength training, I couldn’t help but return to the track to see where I stand now in short distances.
It was a spectacular success and a spectacular failure. I wanted to run under 60 seconds (4 minute mile pace), and came in 3 seconds slow, a quite dismal time by any standard. Yet, at the same time, it’s still my fastest recorded time on the track running 400 meters, even faster than my sophomore year best of 64 seconds when I was running 30-40 miles per week (I run 6 miles/week max now).
The lesson is that consistent, progressive effort yields exponential returns. The daily deposit into the bank account of hard work can grow into a fortune in no time as long as we keep challenging ourselves.
I was recently inspired to see Michael Miraglia set a world record as the first person to deadlift 500 pounds and run a mile all in under 5 minutes (4:49 time total).[2] It is possible to be strong, lean, and in great cardiovascular shape. I have my work cut out for me.