I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on Sprint training. I’ve been doing sprints for a while now. I’m finally at the point where I’m starting to really enjoy it, so I’m getting a little more serious about it.
Currently I sprint every Tuesday and Saturday, but I was thinking of bumping that up to three days a week. I typically do anywhere between 8-12 100m sprints. Where I live can be pretty windy, so what I do is sprint into the wind, walk back, and repeat until I’m tired. I’m wondering if I should be doing more sprints, longer sprints, etc. Any suggestions would be helpful.
What are your thoughts/recommendations about footwear? Until recently, I’d just been running in Nike Free’s, but I was able to find a few pairs of track shoes on clearance recently and tried them out for the first time over the weekend. I was amazed at the difference they made, but now I’m wondering if I should use them all the time, or if I use them in a progression. Is their a ‘trainer’ shoe I should be using? The two pairs I currently have are a Nike Zoom Rival S IV and a Nike Zoom Rival MD III. The Rival MD III came with a set of spikes, but the Rival S IV didn’t come with anything.
Also, what is everyone’s recommendation for using spikes? Good or bad? I run on a loose dirt track (it’s kind of a dirt/gravel mix).
I appreciate any suggestions or comments you have.
The only times I ever use my track spikes are for starts, 110 hurdle work and full speed interval work. Since I only do full speed interval work the last week or two of the season they don’t get much use other then in meets. I personally like Asics running shoes I’ve also found Brooks to be fairly comforable. Which running shoes to get are completely dependent on the individual though. Find someplace that does running shoe fittings and they can help you out with what is best for your feet.
I would definately vary the distances and intensities on your intervals. There are sooo many possibilites for intervals I don’t feel like you should settle for one workout. I usually like to switch between things like 8x60m flys, (4x200m)x2, (100, 150, 200, 150, 100)x3-4, (3x300)x2, (400, 3x200)x2. There are so many choices. Now if you are training for track I would do different variations of volume, intesity, and rest depeding on where you are at in the season, but I have a feeling that you are just doing this to stay in shape so I won’t go into that.
Thanks for the advice. I am doing this to stay in shape, but I am trying to improve my technique and get faster.
I haven’t really messed around with different distances though, so I’ll start doing that for variety. I’ve just been doing the same 8-12x100m workout for probably 3-4 months. I want to increase the frequency of my workouts, so variety is a good thing to keep me from getting bored with it.
It definately helps with the boredom. After 13 years of running 5-6 days a week I don’t think I could survive without the variety of things I do.
With that said I’m actually planning on taking an entire year off of running, if I can mentally handle that, to hopefully get bigger and stronger so I can throw farther.
If you’re trying to increase your speed a shorter distance would be better. It’s tough to keep max speed for 100m straight, especially at 8-12 reps. 60 is usually the MAX for speed work, with most at 40 or under.
I was going to say that too. Sprinting for 100m 12 times would kill me. You must have some great recovery time then. I like doing sprint conditioning on the football field because there are so many options. It’s hard as hell, but it’s fun at times.
[quote]ukrainian wrote:
I was going to say that too. Sprinting for 100m 12 times would kill me. You must have some great recovery time then. I like doing sprint conditioning on the football field because there are so many options. It’s hard as hell, but it’s fun at times.[/quote]
I probably only run the middle sprints the hardest. By the end I’m usually running at probably 75% speed due to fatigue.
But I’m definitely gassed by the end. I usually feel like I’m going to throw up afterwards. I kind of like that feeling, but I’m weird that way.
I do a lot of 100m and 200m sprints. I rest 4 to 5 minutes between sets to make sure I am going full out, top speed.
That way, Im training to be fast, not slow. It is true (to some degree) you perform how you train.
I am bulking now, so am only doing 10 sets of 10m or 20m sprints with 1 minute rest. But when I was training to fight mma, a usual sprint session would be 10x100m/ 5x200m with 4 mins rest.
Only two times i did more was when i set a goal to do a 20x100m with 5 mins rest, and in a different session 10x200m (on a hill) with 5 mins rest. Which isnt good for pure strength or speed, but I use volume training often for fight training to deal with buidling work capacity and lactic acid tolerance.
I would do one session a week of 10,20 or 30m sprints for starts and pure explosiveness, and another for 100m/200m for power endurance.
If I go all out in my 200’s I need 8-10 minutes to recover and then I can only do 3 maybe 4 and then my legs shut down and I can’t stand up anymore.
True if you want to increase max speed you want to do shorter distances 45-60m but if you’re trying to increase your 100m you’ll still need to do some speed endurance work by doing 100-200m.
If you are trying to become just an all around better runner you’ll want to do a day of speed work and a couple speed endurance days. I’d probably go with a day running 200-300m distances and a day running 100-200m.
I would not run every workout as fast as I could. Sometimes I’ll take a week or two and do this to see where I’m at but generally I’ll go 75% of my competition max, especially when out of season.
8-12 100s is a ton of volume. If your running hard, and your even somewhat quick, thatll take a huge toll on your body.
in terms of getting faster, running with the wind at your back will help you with a quicker stride, and also help your form. I dont see the need to run in spikes if your not competing, as its unusually hard on your body
So basically when you’re done, you’re breathing harder than Darth Vader? HAHAHA.
OK that was tacky.
But in all seriousness, I’ve added sprints to my routine as well. On Mondays I do shorter sprints (~20 yards), and on Thursdays, I do longer sprints (~100 yards). Initially, I was just doing the shorter sprints, but after adding the longer sprints, it has definitely helped my lung capacity, and it mixes things up a little bit.
So as others suggested, mix it up. Maybe do your short sprints on Tuesdays and long sprints on Saturdays, or vice versa.
As for shoes, I think the shoes you have will work fine. I don’t feel track spikes are necessary unless you plan on competing in track meets.
[quote]Blacksnake wrote:
So…Is no one doing sprints as HIT cardio (fat burning) as TC proposed in his article on the subject?..[/quote]
That’s originally how it started for me, but the more I’ve done them, the move I enjoy them and have gotten serious about it. I went from just doing sprints as exercise to actually caring about my performance and working on my technique.
I’ve had a lot of success with sprints for strength and explosiveness.
Squats and deads helped me get 11.2 in the 100, and the reverse also is true, sprints helped my squat and dead strength.
-How? Glute and hip flexor strength goes through the roof (hip flexor strength from sprints REALLY helped my deads, when i go for 1 rep max’s I always felt it hard in my hip flexors), work capacity and recovery is much better, I dont get pumped as easy doing squats or deads so the muscle is fresher for longer, i.e: more sets and reps without collapsing from massive back pumps. etc.
In all honesty it helped my oly lifts too, its all ground force production at the end of the day, and new stimulus.
[quote]AngryVader wrote:
Blacksnake wrote:
So…Is no one doing sprints as HIT cardio (fat burning) as TC proposed in his article on the subject?..
That’s originally how it started for me, but the more I’ve done them, the move I enjoy them and have gotten serious about it. I went from just doing sprints as exercise to actually caring about my performance and working on my technique.[/quote]
Which raises the question of if that original program got the results (leaness) you were trying for, before you switched to performance mode? Chicken or Egg?..
[quote]Blacksnake wrote:
AngryVader wrote:
Blacksnake wrote:
So…Is no one doing sprints as HIT cardio (fat burning) as TC proposed in his article on the subject?..
That’s originally how it started for me, but the more I’ve done them, the move I enjoy them and have gotten serious about it. I went from just doing sprints as exercise to actually caring about my performance and working on my technique.
Which raises the question of if that original program got the results (leaness) you were trying for, before you switched to performance mode? Chicken or Egg?..
[/quote]
I did lean out from doing sprints, but like I said, after doing them for a while, I began to enjoy them and wanted to improve my performance with them. Now I just consider them part of my routine. I still am leaning out, but it’s no longer the primary reason I’m doing sprints.
