2617688, There's such a huge dichotomy between the 400 and 800.
Posted by Mignight Maruder, Sat Jul-15-17 08:38 AM
At my high school, the 400 has and seemingly always will be the most coveted event. The coaches are obsessed with it. My freshman year our 4X4 team finished top 3 in the state with a sub 3:20 and most of the subsequent teams were state qualifiers too. The girls team has produced some really good 400 runners too. My school has never had a problem with convincing kids to commit to the 400.
There's so much emphasis on this event though and imo, very little attention given to the 800. I always felt like the 1600/3200 runners always had their separate regime as they were mostly cross-country runners. Middle distance 800 runners though? They were on the own island it seemed.
There was a very, very good runner I graduated with who went on to run at Cornell. He was mostly a sprinter, but would run the 800 when it came to the post-season. He ran about a 1:55 and I believe placed at the state level. I can't imagine how fast he would have been if he had fully trained for the 800.
As far as your original post, I'm struggling for any good answers. I've worked in education as a teacher/counselor for the past decade plus and can tell you that every kid is unique and is motivated in different ways. I'm sure you already know that, but I don't want you beating yourself up searching for the perfect sales pitch.
The kid I referenced above was motivated by the idea that the 800 gave him the best opportunity to compete for a state medal. With that said, he still mainly trained for the 400.
It's really hard to get inside the mind of a high schooler. I know just myself, I really had an irrational way of viewing things. I'll forever hold guilt for allowing one bad injury and confrontation with a coach stop me from continuing to play baseball in high school. I was too hard-headed to play the sport I excelled at most. I 100% committed myself to football only - which I experienced a lot of success in. However, I really wish I would have approached things differently and committed myself to basketball and baseball more. I ran track btw - but was just a marginal contributor.
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