Coughlin, Jensen push the limits in 400 freestyle

The world of hurt, apparently, has differing degrees of difficulty.

U.S. Olympic swim star Natalie Coughlin tried her best to explain it to the uninitiated, talking about her rare venture into the department of distance swimming on Friday night, explaining why it is so much more painful than the sprints.

“It hurts all over, instead of a specific area,” she said.

Remember, this is someone who, despite her excellence at the distance, hates swimming the 200-meter backstroke.

So why did she take on the burden of the 400 freestyle at the Janet Evans Invitational at USC?

“Here, I wanted to do events that I never swim,” Coughlin said. “So I kind of know what I’m doing in that. The breaststrokes ... I have no clue. Which is fun because I can go into a race and race really hard with no expectations.”

The breaststroke races -- the 200 today and the 100 on Sunday -- are one thing, but Coughlin’s coach, Teri McKeever, helpfully raised the bar on Friday, setting a tough standard for the 400 freestyle.

“My coach came up with 4:09 as a goal time; I don’t know why,” Coughlin said.

She nearly met it in a spirited race, winning in 4 minutes 10.99 seconds. Her California Aquatics teammate Ashley Chandler was second in 4:11.97, and Helen Norfolk of New Zealand was third in 4:13.35.

For some perspective, Coughlin said it was her best time by four seconds, and the meet record, by Claudia Poll of Costa Rica, set in 2000, is 4:09.04.

Not bad for an off-race.

“I did it as a joke a few years ago,” Coughlin said. “I try to do it once a summer. But I’ve done it probably five times in the last six or seven years.”

The men’s 400 freestyle was even more competitive: Larsen Jensen of the Trojan Swim Club was first in 3:50.53, adding to his 800 freestyle victory on Thursday.

Scottish teenager Robbie Renwick took second (3:50.72), and Andrew Hunter of Stirling Swim (Scotland) placed third in 3:54.10.

Klete Keller, the U.S.-record holder who recently returned to USC to train after spending several years in Ann Arbor, Mich., was fifth in 3:54.51.

As for Jensen, he had a bloody nose afterward, not noticing until someone pointed it out.

“Tough race,” he said. “It came down to the last 50 and I gutted it out. It was tough. The gentleman swimming next to me was swimming pretty darn quick. I’m just glad I came out on top.”

There were two individual meet records: Kim Vandenberg of Team Bruin in the 200 butterfly (2:08.02) and Melissa Ingram of New Zealand (2:12.00) in the 200 backstroke.

“That was my best time, unshaven,” Vandenberg said. “I haven’t had too much rest. This weekend is kind of like a training weekend, so I’m happy to go that time.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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The schedule

Daily schedule for the Janet Evans Invitational at USC (preliminaries begin at 9 a.m., finals at 5 p.m.):

* Today: 200 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, 400 individual medley, 800 freestyle relay.

* Sunday: 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 200 individual medley, 1,500 freestyle, 400 medley relay.

* FRIDAY’S RESULTS, D10