How fast can I realistically get at this point in my life?

The Forums Ask Us.
1

Hi,

I would like to hear from experience about what realistic goals I can set for myself. I play a field sport, serious about getting faster for it, and have the time and equipment to train.

I’ve been following my first structured Charlie Francis GPP sprint program for the past 2-3 months, hills and tempo. My hand timed 100 M has improved from 12.9 to 12.7…its difficult to really say since its hand timed but I do feel faster. Is this normal improvement in 2-3 months?

I’m 31, played field sports from HS up, BW 190, 6’1, squat 310-320, deadlift 405, Power clean 195, clean 225.

What’s a realistic goal for me to shoot for in the next year? Thanks for any suggestions.

XX

2

What is your plan for a SPP?

GPP is a great lead in to SPP. Flying sprints, FEF drills and accels will have a huge effect on performance.

It is not unusual to see large gains (0.5s) in a short period of time for beginners. Your goals will depend on time, energy and planning. But, you can definitely expect to be faster.

3

I’m going to redo week 5 to week 8 of GPP…didn’t do that too well due to some knee pain. Had to take some time off.

For SPP, I have the vancouver download and got some advice from a coach on here who has used Charlie’s program with his soccer players. going to keep the runs shorter (30 M) and focus on those I believe.

Thanks for the encouragement…I guess how much faster do you think I can shoot for a year from now? I have the time, equipment to train.

xx

4

Sprint mechanics will also play a role. If you need a specific number, I would say that 12 low or flat wouldn’t be too unreasonable at that level. Maybe even 11 high, but since you’re cross training track for soccer, I would be a little more conservative.

5

Hello Xi Xia,

I am in a fairly similar position to you. I started training at 33 with zero background in track and field since grade school. I am 35 now, and just completed my second outdoor season.

My first season was last year, and I started out in October, and ended up running a SB of 8.46 indoors in the 60.

When I got outdoors, I ran a 12.61 (+0.0) in the 100m and a 25.41 (+2.0) in the 200m.

The improvement was pretty solid from indoor season to outdoor season.

This year, my goals were as follows:

60m: 7.96
100m: 12.3x
200m: 24.9x

I managed to run the following:

60m: 8.04
100m: 12.49w, 12.54 (+1.4)
200m: 25.04w, 25.15 (+1.0)

I had some problems in April and May which didn’t disrupt my speed training, but I missed a few tempo days.

With the reduction of work in the outdoor season, I didn’t control my diet enough, and I gained about 5 lbs that I didn’t need. I will learn from this next season, but I was pretty annoyed that I probably cost myself a bit of time due to lack of dietary discipline.

Also, I didn’t train through July and consequently stopped running meets in early July, so I may have been able to make further slight improvements, but that will have to wait until next year.

This is just my experience, but I got pretty close to my goals, so I was fairly pleased. I am not a gifted athlete, but the overall positive effects of sprinting have been literally too numerous to count.

6

Ahh, numbers. Thanks for sharing your experience! So, from this, it looks like going from 12.7 to 12.0 is a pretty big jump and just going to take a while.

7

You could possibly improve .2-.3 per season in the 100. You can improve by seconds in the 200.

8

I agree Jay,

The 200m is definitely easier to improve in. My first season I got some really lucky wind for my 25.41 (it measured at +2.0 but felt pretty illegal), so this year my 200 time could have came down into the 24’s if I had run meets deep into July and gave myself more chances to run in just the right conditions.

Sprinting is certainly not for those looking for a quick fix. Though I was pretty happy- last year I was running consistently around 12.80 except for my one 12.61, and this year I ran consistently in the 12.50 range, so overall not a bad season.