On Tuesday I had my first track training in a while. It was 5 x 800 m with 400 m recoveries. The 800s were supposed to be run in 3:15. I ran on an asphalt track at a local high school. The track was fine. After the first 800 I thought it was a 400 yard track, because my time was so good (3:06 - but this was after I saw that my first 400 was 1:32 and I slowed down a bit). It turns out that I was just not used to track training, because I had to work hard toward the end to maintain 3:15. Fitness-wise it seems like I am where I am supposed to be. In 12 weeks I hopefully can crush 20 minutes.

Interesting note: the GPS watch I'm using was quite inaccurate on the track: it measured anything from 385 meters to 401 meters for one lap, typically measuring about 5-10 meters shorter distance per lap.

Edit: after some further research, I've found that there are basically no 400-yard tracks in the US. The old, (and by now quite rare) imperial tracks were 440 yards long, which is exactly 1/4 mile and a little above 2 meters longer than 400 meters.