4x4 relay advice with second and third people?

OK, I am on my school's 4x4 relay team, and I am the starter. When I start, I get my team in first by 50+ meters. Yet somehow our second and third people always lose that lead. What can I do to help them keep that lead?4x4 relay advice with second and third people?
To qualify my experience - I have two state championships in the 4x100, two 2nd place finishes in state in the 4x100, and one 2nd place finish in state in the 4x400. 44 seconds in the 4x100 and 3:35 in the 4x400. My personal bests were 12.0 in the open 100 and 53.5 in the open 400.





First, I have no idea how old you are. Next, I have no idea what everyone's splits are or what your overall time is the event. That would help a lot. But I'll give it a shot.





YOU need to focus on training your 2nd and 3rd legs. Not sure how the anchor leg is, but you should all train together as a team. Take it upon yourself to work with them and better their times. And train with them, don't just bark orders at them.





I highly recommend training for the 400 by running 500s. A good workout is running four 500s. The last 100 meters is the worst part, but struggling through it will do wonders for everyone's endurance. You need to focus on maintaining form throughout, especially when the lactic acid kicks in. Consciously remember to overextend your arms when you tire, this will help somewhat with keeping your stride from shortening too much. If you are in high school, I recommend targeting a time 80 seconds for every 500 you run (if running 4 500s as a workout).





For the workout, run one 500, walk 300. Repeat 3 more times. Do not walk too fast. You want about 5 minutes rest in between. If you are much faster than the others, then let them start first. It does you no good to run slow to stay with them and it will discourage them if they see you out so far ahead. Instead, you let them start ahead of you enough so that you will catch them with 100 meters to go. This way you all will be struggling together and you can try to push each other and you can also view their running form when the real pain sets in. Explain this to them, this is not showboating. This is about the team getting better.





I'll now discuss the 400 by each 100 meters. I am offering my thoughts on the race, but there are numerous ways to approach this race. However, I believe that my discussions on the first 100 meters and last 100 meters are absolute. The middle two can vary.





FIRST 100 (BUILD SPEED)


Run at 90-95% top speed. Stay relaxed. Run on your toes, not your heels.





SECOND 100 (COAST AND CONSERVE ENERGY)


As you begin the second 100, just coast, no more accelerating. Allow yourself to slow just a bit over the first 50 meters to where you may now actually strike your heel to the ground at the 50 meter mark. But do not slow to under under 85-90% top speed. Maintain this and remember to stay relaxed and to breath.





THIRD 100 (COAST/CONSERVE AND MOVE)


Coast again for the first 50 meters, maybe even slow a bit more to 80-85% top speed. Stay relaxed and breath. Let's retrace our steps. You have accelerated for 100 meters and now basically coasted the next 150 meters. Time to begin to try to accelerate again. Accelerate out of the curve for the next 50 meters. Focus on a point on someone's back in front of you and try to catch them. Stay relaxed and breath.





FINAL 100 (PRAY)


When running the 400, your last 100 meters is going to be your worst 100 meters of the race. If it isn't, then that means you had too much left at the end of the race and could have run a faster overall time. So for the last 100 meters, focusing on your running form, staying relaxed, focusing on your breathing, trying to build endurance (500s), and praying are the best thing to do. Guts, determination, will power, and even being crazy helps.





Strangely, for all of this effort, the end result is to attempt to have close to even splits for each 100 meters over the entire race. Your last split should be your worst.





Examples:





Say your time in the 400 is 56 seconds. If your splits are 14,14,14,14 or 13,14,14,15 then you are currently running the best time you can for the current shape you are in. But if your splits are 13,15,15,13 or 11,13,15,17 or 12,14,14,16, then your overall time could be faster if you just changed how you were running each 100 of the race.





It might not be a bad idea to time each of your people in 400 and just let each person run it his own way and get their splits. This could also give some insight as to how to lower someone's overall time.





Don't forget to mix in workouts for sprinting. Also, plyometric drills/ high knee drills will help with sprinting and maintaining stride length.





Don't get caught up with splits too much. Focus on the training. Use the splits as a guide to measure progress.





As always.


Practice does NOT make perfect.


PERFECT practice makes perfect.


CRAPPY practice makes crap.