Every peak was different, every athlete was different. But when the athlete had a relatively trouble-free preparation and training times were good and competitions were available, I would be happy enough to cut 400m racing off inside a three-week period prior to the first round of a multi-round championship.
Unfortunately, at times, the national federation would organise relay meets against other national teams and sometimes one or other of the athletes I was coaching would be obliged to compete inside that 3-week exclusion zone.
Coming into Seoul, off a terribly injury-plagued preparation, my top male raced only two domestic 400m (failing to break 47), then raced Verona, Hechtel and Sestriere (failing to break 46sec). It was only after CF intervened with some seriously deep massage and this was then picked up by the national team physio that the source of the pain was identified as a calcified nodule on a nerve in his hamstring. Once that was dispersed through massage (second-knuckle-deep into the tissue) he could at last break 11.5sec for 100m without feeling his hammy was about to be shredded. The next day in Cologne, where we had bumped into CF and Ben et al, he was able to go 10.5 on grass and not feel a thing. That was the cut-off day to commit for the Olympics, so it was dramatic and I cannot tell you how stressful the whole experience was that year.
But to answer the question, his last race was in Sestriere on August 11 and the first round in Seoul was September 24.
The top female ran her last 400m in Cologne which would have been around mid-August that year?? Her next 400m was the Olympic first round, which was again around September 24 (give or take a day).
So when they ran their fastest times for 400m it was actually off a break of nearly six weeks from the previous 400m race.
Before the Comm Games, he had run some 400m races up to and including December 2, followed by a training period which led to him time-trialling over 300m on Dec 31. Off a three-step rolling start, he ran 32.07manual (splitting 200m in 20.15) , then backed up with a rollstart 200m in 20.04sec. The next day he cramped in his left lower adductor. Great start to the new year.
He was still nursing that sore spot when the national federation obliged him (on fear of being dropped from the Games team) to run a 4x400 relay on January 14. He split 45.9 off a careful opening 200m in 22.23.
Games 400m first round (and second round) was January 27.
So his last 400m race off the blocks before the Games was December 2. That’s about eight weeks before the tournament. However it’s only two weeks if you count the relay. 
kk
:eek: 
