Measuring correct volume of maximum effort speed?

Hypothetical situation:

Let’s say you have a sprinter who on a given day can run a 3.8h 30m, 4.7h 40m and 6.6h 60m at BEST in TRAINING (note these are not pb’s but the best on this particular day) at maximum effort.

Rough guidelines (300m or less-upper level of 500m) of volume of maximum speed seem to be accepted methods of prescribing the amount of maximum effort speed work for advancement of this system. However they are indeed ROUGH guidelines and don’t necessarily take into consideration an individual’s physiology/CNS system. Each individual probably has a different volume of maximum speed work he/she can take on a given day. Can this be determined more precisely…

Let’s take the lower limit 300m volume guideline as an example in Session 1: 1x10m, 3x30m, 2x40m, 2x60m and apply it to the above sprinter.

Now the 500m level as an example for Session 2: 4x20m, 4x30m, 3x40m, 3x60m and apply it to the above sprinter.

I would be interested in hearing people’s opinions as to what level of fatigue is allowed (i.e. how much drop off in the above times) is allowed before a saturation/over-training level is reached where each extra run past the saturation point is either a waste of time or potentially damaging to the athlete…

Also, would this drop off in time from the BEST performance on that given day be allowed to be greater in the earlier phases of training (General prep, Specific prep, Pre-Comp and Comp) and if it is by how much?

Looking forward to hearing people’s opinions…

I dont know if I am right or not but I think the maximum effort of the day can be felt by the athlete himself and can’t be measured, as it differs from one day to another where many factors can affect him,…

so then how about if u start off with a low volume that is tolerable and not too hard or damaging, and then work ur way from there by gradually picking up on the volume. that way you are progressively overloading but allowing adaptation of the new volume

I don’t think I made myself clear enough when I posed the situation and I think the above replies are slightly missing my point/question.

Basically I’m asking how much of a drop off in time is allowed before the training session becomes a waste of time/might do more harm than good to the athlete?

In the above example if the sprinters best time on that day in training (hypothetically) is 6.60h for 60m at what stage of fatigue does doing any more runs become defunct. Is it 6.70h, 6.75h, 6.80h, 6.85h etc?

If the runs are handtimed it is real hard to gauge accuracy in that short of a distance. If it were timed from by a speedtrap however if the athlete was running 6.60-6.70 on the first 2 Id say slower than 6.72 the athlete is fatigued. If you are in fact hand timing look for the athlete struggling with technique, listen for longer ground contacts, and ask the athlete if he or she is starting to feel really flat. That in addition to your watch will be the best bet.