From 1987 to 1999 you dropped over 3 seconds in your 400. What were your training keys for that success?

Question

Michael Johnson · Answer

"From 1987 to 1999, you dropped over 3 seconds on your 400 meters. What were your training keys for that success?" So it was more than just training. In 1987, I was a senior in high school and going into my college career. I had never run an open 400 meters ever. I was a 100- 200-meter sprinter in high school. And I did run on the 4-by-400-meter relay. And I was pretty good on the 4-by-400-meter relay. So I knew that I had the potential to be a good 400-meter runner but just didn't know how good, because I was an excellent 200-meter runner. And that was my focus. When I got to Baylor University in 1987, I still never focused on the 400 meters. I ran a total of three 400-meter races throughout my college career, my four years there because, again, I was always focused on the 200 meters. And we were always having to prepare for something-- conference championships, national championships. So there wasn't a lot of time to switch back and forth between the 200 and 400 meters, because I was trying to get my 200 meters improved so I could be ready to try to win conference and national championships. And I was running the 4-by-100-meter and 4-by-400-meter relays. So it wasn't until I actually finished and left my college career and started my professional career in 1990 that I started really attacking and running the 400 meters and immediately showed that-- I was ranked number one in the world the first year I started running it. So I knew that I had that potential. And then it was from there for nine years. I knew that I could break the world record. And I was just trying to break that world record. I probably would have broken it much sooner than 1999 had I just focused on the 400 meters. But as you know, throughout my career, I was a 200-meter runner and a 400-meter runner. In the first six years, I really focused more on trying to break the world record in the 200. And it wasn't until after I did that and then I switched and really started to just focus 100% on trying to break that 400-meter world record, which I finally did in 1999.

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"From 1987 to 1999 you dropped over 3 seconds in your 400. What were your training keys for that success?"