I’ve read some forums on this topic (aka dynamic stereotype) and the most common solution I see is EFE/FEF and floating drills. (Of course, I am suffering from this as I had introduced finish drills when I wasn’t ready)
Are there any other techniques/drills/methods/workout schemes that will help break a speed barrier? Especially for an athlete that has already done flying sprints, where now a stereotype exists in my case.
Thanks!
How do you know a dynamic stereotype exists? How has your training been structured until now?
I definitely just jumped into flying sprints with long build ups and I just wasn’t ready for it. Didn’t do anything to really progress into it, which EFE/FEF are typical. I didn’t do any of that this semester. I did plenty of finish drills and sprints beyond 30m but my top speed didn’t improve and remained stagnant, leading up to a poor performance.
Flying sprints are essentially a way to spread out the acceleration effort. In essence you’re giving yourself an extra 10m or so to get going so that you’re not burning all your energy at the start overcoming resting inertia. The idea is that you will have more energy available to apply later in the acceleration curve allowing you to achieve a higher speed. The lengths of the lead up to the “in” gate should also follow a short-to-long progression. In the early phases you would use say a 20m lead in and 20m hard segment. Overall it would be roughly equivalent to a 30m acceleration done all out. In outdoor phases a gradual 40-50m lead in should allow you to achieve a higher top speed than a 50-60m done with max burn at the start.
I think that flying 20 from 20 are much more demanding then 30 all out. The first part need to be already at sub-max is not like EFE, it’s just faster because of the nature of the approach.
I remember Charlie once said that EFE over 20s that would be an equivalent of 30m (or maybe I am confused)
@Brett
If I were you then I would worry about my planning, not speed barrier.
you can improve a lot of aspects of your training, components of training etc… and consequently you should get faster,
Speed plateau/barrier is a topic usually for people who are training several years and experiencing it, I don’t think that you are there yet to worry about speed barrier.
Yes, they are more demanding than a straight sprint. That’s why you do them. They allow for intensification, but the intensification is achieved by using a more gradual acceleration followed by a sudden kick in power output. For example, if doing 20E, 20F, at the end of the first 20 you should be moving about the speed you would at 10m from a max stationary start, but you’re more upright and in a better mechanical position to accelerate to a higher speed when you floor it over the next 20m segment than you would be going from 10-30m from a hard stationary start. One of the training effects of this described by Charlie in Speed Trap is that the nervous system gets used to automatically kicking into a higher gear when it reaches this speed. So when you go back to a straight 30, you should kick into a higher gear when you reach that speed (usually around 10m).
One problem is that people often misinterpret the 20E, 20F drill as a max speed drill and try to hit top speed during the 20F segment. Rather, it’s a hard acceleration.
In order to actually reach top speed (and hopefully exceed previous top speed) you need a 40-50m fly in. When using that length of build up, the difference between the E and F segments is not as noticeable as with the shorter flying start.
I fully agree.
I just read yesterday where Charlie said that the speed you reach during the beginning of the F in EFE is like the same speed you would be at if you ran 10m all out. So it’s something like 10-30m velocities in the F zone. Probably slightly faster though because of the relaxation from the build up.
Tell me about it guys lol. I know I haven’t burned myself out to the point where I have a tough speed barrier to break, but I just need to take a step back from what I was doing and work EFE/FEF and get into flys in a few weeks after once progress is made in the speed change drills. I just don’t have my 4th and 5th gears right now, and doing those flys too early just made me good at holding slower speeds. I just didn’t incorporate a gradual periodization to top speed.
But yeah I was just looking for more workout ideas.
Yup, just read about this in Speed Trap on page 243
The way to prevent the formation of a dynamic stereotype (i.e. stagnation) is to vary the stimulus. That’s the point of having these training options. Also remember that the higher the intensity of a training component, the shorter the adaptation period before you hit diminishing returns within a training period. Whereas adaptation to maximum speed work might peak out after 12 weeks of continuous training, the adaptation period for special endurance is up to 16 weeks.