Annaliese Rubie on how switching from 400m to 800m for a year helped her prepare for the single lap at the Commonwealth Games

FOR Australian athlete Anneliese Rubie, switching from 400m to 800m seemed crazy enough to work.

FOR Australian athlete Anneliese Rubie, switching from 400m to 800m seemed crazy enough to work.

That logic wavered when Rubie dived into the middle distance training regimen, and just when her legs were on the point of collapse, the call would go out: “Only had more 8 more reps to go.”

But the moment the crazy finally started to make sense came when, after she’d done a year of 800m and with the Commonwealth Games rapidly approaching on the horizon, Rubie switched back.

Suddenly, it felt like half the work.

“I was so incredibly fit — the fittest I have ever been,” Rubie said.

“Normally the 400 lactic training is really hard, but I was able to deal with it better than I ever had before.

Anneliese Rubie is reaping the benefits of an innovative training regime.

“The 800 training was so mentally tough. The 400 stuff is hard in it’s own way and is incredibly challenging, but it something I knew. I felt really comfortable and because I was fit, I was smashing all the sessions that used to be hard.”

Rubie took that 800m-honed fitness and, without having lost any top-end speed, won the 400m trial at the Australian Athletics Championships in ​February​.

She will run the individual event ​next month and be a key component of the dark​ ​horse Aussie women’s 4x400m relay team.

Rubie had actually run qualifying times ​for the Comm Games ​in an impressive three events​: ​ the 200m, the 400m and the 800m. She won some events in the 800m in the United States, confirming that potential others had always pointed to.

But the tight schedule at the Australian trials meant trying to win spots in all three events could have derailed her chances to get on the team for one, and so Rubie focused on the 400m. And​, displaying that souped-up strength, ​ ​she came from behind on the final straight to win​.

Podium visits now aren’t out of the question for Rubie, which again justifies the crazy.

Rubie was no slouch in the 400m before her 800m experiment, mind you. The ​25-year-old​ made the semi-finals in the 400m at the Rio Olympics and though she walked away happy, she wasn’t content. ​ Rubie​ was over a second off making the final, and over two seconds from the podium.

AAnneliese Rubie in 400m semi-final at the Rio Olympics.

“I thought what I am doing? Am I realistically going to get that?” Rubie said. “Where could I get that ​ (success) ​from if it​’​s not the 400​m​? That’s why I thought going to the 8s would work. And I think I may go back there again, eventually.

“But after a year of running the 8s, I realised how tactical it is. You can’t just smash one out on your own, although I tried a few times.

“But without that depth in Australia at the moment, I thought I have a shot of a finals spot and maybe even a medal in the 400, why waste that opportunity? And particularly with the strength of our relay team as well.”

​Unsurprisingly, ​Jamaicans will be the ones to beat in the 400m, with Rio bronze medallist Shericka Jackson and defending Commonwealth 400m champion Stephenie-Ann McPherson in the field.

They’ll be the ones to beat in the relay, too, but Australia have high hopes they’ll be up there on the Jamaicans’ shoulder.

Anneliese Rubie has her sights set on 400m success at the Commonwealth Games.

The Aussie 4 x 400m team made the final in Rio and have only improved since — courtesy of the arrival of teen sensation Bendere Obaya.

The 17-year-old, who won gold in the Junior Commonwealth Games 400m last year, has been gobbling up PBs this year and finished second to Rubie at the nationals.

Born in Ethiopia but raised in Sydney’s west, Oboya has filled the missing piece for the Aussie relay team, which also features Morgan Mitchell and Caitlin Jones.

“The relay has been pretty exciting for the last few years. We have always had a good crack at each major and surprised ourselves. That’s been really cool,” Rubie said.

“But we always had that fourth runner where we needed to fill a spot. We needed one extra.

Bendere has some star factor in how she runs her 4s, so if we can work out which leg she’ll be best in and really use her strengths, that’ll definitely help us. Hopefully we will be up there fighting for the gold.”

Originally published as Annaliese Rubie on how switching from 400m to 800m for a year helped her prepare for the single lap at the Commonwealth Games