From what I understand the effect on tendon stiffness is instant when running on a softer surface. Would mixing grass and track in the same workout be benefitial? Espiecially in the competition phase?
For me personally, I have done some speed work on grass in sprint spikes and then done SE on the track in LJ spikes straight after, in the same session. You do feel fast when coming off the grass and onto the track right after… almost an overspeed effect!
Well I was forced to run due to conflicts with my federation so it wasn’t the ideal. I had been on grass exclusively for two months. Last year I used track for accels and grass for max v during my comp phase and it worked extremely well.
I had a similiar experience Charlie, some years back one of my athletes had been going really well, ran pbs for 100/200 then suffered an achilles tendon problem. She rehab’d for a few weeks by drilling then eventualy striding and sprinting on grass. She had entered a championship at 400m (her main event) so we did about 10 days or so of track for speed and recovery on grass. She ran a pb for 400m in the championship, so yes I agree it can work. 
If you live somewhere where weather is permitting, is 1 week on 1 week off a good idea? i.e. speed done on track one week then grass the next.
I would prefer a longer period on grass and then a gradual transition to the track ( Wk1: 2 sessions on grass/one track, Wk2: 1 grass/2 track, Wk3: 3 track. That way there isn’t a constant adaptation requirement.
For my GPP I am doing Mon/Fri speed sessions on field turf, Tue ext tempo session on the track, Thur ext tempo session on field turf, and Wed controlled speed session on track.
I have never liked field turf for training and would much prefer grass but, i guess, it might be individual.
Why? Would you rather track over field turf in gpp? I think it’s safer to run on a nice field turf vs a shitty grass field.
(new) field turf is awesome. I have run on it the past 2 seasons instead of grass.
i just haven’t had the same response from it in terms of muscle looseness, recovery, etc, but if it works for you, keep at it!
Is all training( speed and tempo )done on grass during GPP?
I assume spikes are worn for the speed?
I have made the transition to grass and been on it for a week and a half (700m of speed work/week).
I have to say that it is very easy on the legs (less soreness than I would get from an equivalent session on the track), but after each run I do breath harder I feel and have to take a couple of more minutes to get full recovery (due to increased resistance?)
Question for everyone: If there is a stiff wind and you’re on grass do you run with it or against it or both. I was thinking that one of the reasons grass is good is that it increases ground contact time so has some neural (cerebellar) benefit as well as muscle looseness and tendon stiffness. So do we run against the wind to augment the effect (or will the resistance be too much like trying to pull a 100kg sled)?
Does running with a stiff tailwind make the session more like a track one with normalised ground contact times?
Incidently today I did the first 3 60s into the wind and the final 3 with it, including 4x10m into the wind.
Thanks for the help!
With extensive tempo the breaks are usually shorter than the time it would take to walk back to the starting point so you usually go back and forth in some way.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear, I meant for speed work when there is full recovery.
I would imagine your best off running with the wind, same as on the track.
Having been working on grass hills for the past 6-7 weeks, I have introduced one session per week of tyre pulls on grass e.g. 4x10 4x20. My group have certainly taken to it and of course it protects the legs and feet. I’m making the most of evening daylight before we are confined to a floodlit track and the indoor 60m straight at our training venue.
If one were to choose field turf, what is best footwear? Track spikes?
I would still go with the wind to promote relaxation as much as possible. you are still strengthening due to the lower rebound of the grass.
What you says for training in park,with my trainer we do 5x600 in the park,we have one circle 600,half circle 300 and for me this is very good,we do this on wed!
Which event and what is the brak between runs? How long will you do this for?
100-200m event,if I understand you,the rest between every set is 4 min.We do this september,october,november-3 months,december here in Bulgaria is winter like Canada and stop to run in park and stop do hill work,but then we start do sled work!