Consistancy of Speed Workout Design

Expert Discussion Advanced Sprint Training
1

Charlie:

When you design speed workouts, do they have to be consistant and follow a set progression (like weights) or can each speed workout be rather ‘random’.

For example:

Week 1: 8x30m (total volume: 240m)
Week 2: 9x30m (total volume: 280m)
Week 3: 10x30m (total volume: 300m)
Week 4: 6x30m
Week 5: 6x40m
Week 6: 7x40m

etc…

Or can you change the track session each workout but continue to keep track of total volume? for example:

Week 1: 4x40m, 4x20m (total volume: 240m)
Week 2: 6x30m, 5x20m (total volume: 280m)
Week 3: 3x50m, 5x30m (total volume: 300m)
etc…

This is just for short distance speed (not special endurance development!)

I know that with strength work (weights) there must be some continuous pattern with gradual progression followed for some time to see improvement. Is this the same deal with sprint workouts?

I’ve read a lot of people’s training journals and few seem to follow any kind of set progression for their speed workouts (except for total volume), can speed still be improved this way?

2

I think there’s a lot of confusion about the nature of short to long work. While the early EMPHASIS is on the acceleration, this need not define the DISTANCE you run. For example, the emphasis is on a 30m accel, so, if you want to do a series of 60m repeats, you accel to 30 and then maintain that given speed to the end without change (ie 30+30). As well as running exactly the distance you’re concentrating on, you can progress your speed through the 60s in a training block, by moving up the accel distance- 20+40, 30+30, 40+20, etc.