How many speed days are still enough to improve your speed?
Especially being masters level and feeling the body does not tolerate too many intensive sessions a week.
This season I won’t be able to train more than 3-4 days a week (work, family), so I planned not more than 1.5 speed days a week (1 speed and every other week speed endurance, later special endurance, while doing a second tempo session every other week)
If I find time for 3 sessions a week only - to do speed on all three days (like Mon, Wed, Fri) feels too much for me, even if the volume is reduced to sg. like 4x30m MaxV with 30-40m runup (Mon), 2x4x30m Acceleration (Wed) and 120-150-150 SE.
I am also in this situation; my training is so sporadic that it varies from three days a week to six days a week. What I have been doing for my speed (I am starting my speed on the track this week) is start with one speed session a week; when the volume I want gets too much for one speed session (for me, that would be about 300m), I add two speed sessions a week, trying to split it apart for adequate recovery. The other days are filled with tempo, pylos, and weights, depending how I can fit them in (tempo always takes priority for me, followed by weights). I hope this helps
What has worked for me has been doing speed work 3 days per week and making sure that Saturday is set in my mind to PR ( if possible) because this is when most meets are held. If I can only get in 2 days I still push the limits on Saturday.( this is only during season)
Bascially I am trying to get my body and mind to react and fire when its suppose to not when it wants to.
Hope this helps.
Thx, but I’m afraid that could be still too much for me. I had sg. in mind like:
Mon speed (if weights, only sg. like bench or lat pulldowns)
Tues rest
Wed tempo, med ball throws
Thurs rest
Fri SE, core
Sat rest
Sun rest
Mon speed (if weights, only sg. like bench or lat pulldowns)
Tues rest
Wed core(!), tempo
Thurs rest
Fri tempo, med ball throws
Sat rest
Sun rest
I plan to drop most of the weight. But just because of my individual situation. I bench 3 reps 150% of my bodyweifght and squat (parallel) or deadlift 5 rep 200%. I know many guys being far from that and still running 100m more than 1 sec faster than me.
So as long as I can’t run faster than 10 m/s I do not think about weight any more.
Makes sense. I’ll run mainly Thuesdays, but I do not have access to track on Tuesdays - that’s Why I do my speed Mon - It’s as close as I can get to Comp-day of the week…
I plan to do it very much the same way. I think first priority should be speed (but not more than on half the training days), than a lot of tempo, a lot of core, explosive power training like med ball throws and if you still have too much power plyos and weight. (for me top speed training is “plyos” anyhow.)
In the past I spent too much time with weights. The volume slowed me down. Two weeks bike, streching tempo and core only and bang suddenly improvement was there.
Maybe it’s because I#m beginners level and old (masters), too.
Seems ok for GPP for me - but I think it would be a good idea to extensive tempo as well
(but on the other hand if you do pool intervals you might have a good reason (injury)).
Ins and outs/cone drills and/or “top” speed work (even if done at 95% in a very controlled way) i’d do most of the time, depending on season, though.
And be careful with asphalt - in our age -even hills
Currently I’m 167 pd. Want to get my bodyfat checked - but I think it’s not too much.
-even hills