I want to know what people’s views are on how acceleration and max speed work affect the CNS when they are done over the same distance. For example, I feel that starting from a standstill and practicing block starts over 30 meters is more draining on the CNS than doing flying 30 runs. The main reason is because it takes more time to cover the 30 meters when starting from the blocks than it does to cover 30 meters at max speed. Since both types of runs are meant to be done at about 95-100% intensity throughout, the acceleration work should be more taxing since the same effort is applied for a longer period of time. I think that this should be acknowledged when attempting to determine volumes of work for acceleration and max velocity days.
Thinking further along those lines, would something like 540m from the blocks be easier on the CNS than 10 20m from the blocks or 2010m from the blocks? Or would the fact that the total 200 meters is split up so that there are more breaks in between mean that this is not the case? I would like to say that I am talking about running sections of around 50 meters at the most, since I believe that running 2 100m would include speed endurance and would use more than the single energy system required to run for about 6 seconds or less.
I asked my coach about this and he didn’t know the answer so I posted it here.
If both are done at max velocity, the flying 30s must be harder on the CNS ( you have to get up to the starting pace going in, move at a higher rate throughout, and be at your max possible speed by the end of the segment.)