300 meter improvement

Well track pratice started this week and we’ve been starting off the practice with 6 300 meter sprints in under 55 seconds…and then at the end of pratice another 6 300 meter sprints…I find these very difficult for some reason…I lead our team but I would like to know how I could help myself to not make these so painful(sprinting routines, etc.) Since there’s a big gap in between my last meal and track practice, do you think that if I ate a carbohydrate rich meal before practice I would feel a little more energized? Honestly…our entire track team is dying from these…anything at all that could help me burst through the pain barrier would help a lot. Thanks so much.

How fast do you run the 300 normally? If you’r running under 40 normally, then a 55 300 should be like tempo work and it shouldnt be too taxing after a week of it. Maybe this is a fitness or hyrdration issue? Still, 12 300s in one day seems like waay too much.

A few of questions:

  1. What type of shape are you in currently?
  2. At what intensity are your runs?
  3. How much recovery are you taking in between reps/sets?

I’m in pretty good shape right now…very lean and flexible…haven’t done a tremendous amount of sprinting work during the offseason though, sorry to say.
I’d say I run them at about 80 percent, and the only thing I know is that I lead our team when we run them…I just feel dead at about the 225 meter mark.
For recovery we walk 100 meters back to the starting line and recover for a minute or so…I don’t know why these are so difficult but they’re pretty rough…my nutritional habits are actually pretty good…I’m eating lots of tuna, veggies, fruits, keeping myself hydrated, and I eat a good breakfast but I don’t eat much during the school day at all…except for afterwards. Keep the thoughts coming please.

Any recommendations at all?

Sounds like a good workout for distance runners. I don’t see what it has to do with sprints unless the intensity is low enough to be considered tempo work.

As far as what you should be doing, search around on the site. You will find a lot of good ideas.

If you are developing sprinters, get the acceleration and max velocity in place. Keep the quality high on your speed days and alternate them with the low-intensity, higher volume tempo work.

I wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong with your fitness. I’m pretty wiped when I had to do 7x200 this week at 75% and I couldn’t even get down to the target time on 5 of em.

I would tend to agree with the comment regarding the fitness. If you are just starting these 300s, it may take your body a bit of time in order to adapt to this type of workout.

As a 400m guy, I currently do 10x300m as a tempo session in about 53s-55s with a 100m jog recovery (~60s). When I first started doing them back in Sept, I had a tough time doing them in 60s with 2.5min recovery … even tough I was in shape :eek:. It just took me a few sessions in order for them to get comfortable.

Just stick too it and they will get easier. Let us know how you make out :).

Are there any types of things I can do in the weightroom to help make them easier? My coach is always talking about lifting for muscular endurance?? Would/could muscular endurance be gained by doing certain exercises in the weightroom? thanks a bunch.