One month to get a sub-7.5 in 60m dash

Hello, I have track tryouts october 20th, and I need to get atleast a 7.5 in 60m dash. Would I go for preparing this by doing 4 weeks of the GPP program? Also, my shins bother me a lot, and I’m planning on icing them 20min each night. Is this sufficient? Kinda just planning to so ext. tempo, 3 sprints, and maybe 2 weightlifting workouts a week.

thanks

And your currently running what at the moment? 7.6?
Training history?

Remember the 6 P’s of Planning,
Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

If your current training has been nothing, and your giving yourself 4weeks from today - then you’re lacking Prior Planning.

You could try Racing yourself into shape with weekly time trials on the wkends with easy tempo on Tue n thurs.

Or
Like your said, 3 weeks of Gpp, hills, tempo and med ball, then a week before do some time trials then just hope for the best on the 20th.

I don’t really have that much prior training, and all summer I hardly ran because of chronic shin splints. Which option would you take?
I’m fairly fit and muscular, very advanced with lifting, plyos, etc. I just honestly haven’t ran that much, but I’ve always been fast. I’m not sure what my 60m is now. But from guessing, most likely an 8-ish. I know this seems foolish, but any logical/effective option that I have, I’ll take.

i would get used to running again, some hills, some tempo. Get the legs used to running instead of squatting etc.
Max speed and forced starts will just tighten you up right now.
Some med ball would be good too.

Do too much too soon and tighten up n get injured or just get slower.

There is nothing really specific you can do other than just getting used to running again. When you have been off running, it does Hurt for a few wks when you resume.

If you have shin splints, then you need to get that taken care of. Otherwise, it will effect everything else. I used to have really bad shin splints but when I started targeting the muscle on the front of my shin, everything resolved. You can do this using something as simple as a bicycle tube, or something as specialized as a DARD (do a search on Amazon).

As far as your sprint training, I agree with boldwarrior. You need to simply sprint. I would not jump into a lot of long sprints right at the start. Instead, do 10, 20, 30, and 40m accelerations from a lying start on a slight grass hill. This will improve your acceleration mechanics and should also be easier on your shins.

Do 100m repeats at <75% intensity tempo on grass to work on your relaxation and open stride.

What do you mean by a bicycle tube, xlr8? Just rub it or what? I don’t really see how that can help. :smiley:

put 1 end of the tube round something solid and the other end round your foot…with a straight leg just simply pull your ankle towards you

the tube is simply resistance but works great but i find physio bands better especially the grey or black band

Take the tube and put one end around something that doesn’t move. Stick you toes through the other end, then pull your toes up towards your knee (dorsiflex). Hard to explain. Simple to do…

Found this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-US5l-9eDs

I found this little excerpt off a website:

“The exercise that was recommended is, as I tend to refer to it, best described as figure-eights. Although, that description confuses some people … maybe just calling it circles in both directions is clearer. Find yourself an old bicycle tube (bike shops will usually give you a punctured tube for free) or some surgical tubing, and tie a loop at one end to put your foot through. Position your foot so that the ball of the foot is making contact with the tubing so that you have good leverage. This is best done seated. Pull back on the other end with as much resistance as feels comfortable, and rotate your foot in circles (point your toe, rotate clockwise toward you, then away from you, etc.). Vary how hard you pull so that the resistance stays fairly even as the foot comes closer and moves further away. Change directions from time to time, making slow, controlled movements. After five to ten minutes a day of this, my shin splints were gone for good within a mere week or two. Had I only known about this three years earlier…”

So basically, bring toes towards you, and move them left and right?

It will depend on te type of shin splints i.e. surface related or structurally related. If its Tib Ant then rolling and stretching that area and lots of ice (plunging lower limbs into ice water, ice massage etc). You need to get the inflammation down. Once you have done this different exercises including heel walks and toe walks wil help strengthen this area. However, you may need to find alternative surfaces or better shoes. Maybe just do one session a week on the testing surface to familiarise yourself with the timing, bounce etc. If its more Tib Post then usually high arch individuals or over pronaters put this area under stress causing it to inflam. Again you need to rid yourself of the inflammation however you may find you need to tap your ankles to reduce the amount of overpronation when you aren’t wearing shoes that support your feet and reduce it. Good luck and remember you have a short time period, are very fit and need to run only 70m so it probably best to concentrate on the key aspects you can heavily influence it that period that will impact on your performance.

tap = tape

Why go through all the trouble of trying to strengthen a small muscle (e.g. tibialis anterior) to withstand a huge load instead of just getting rid of the excess load? I mean that’s like trying to strengthen your biceps to get a bigger clean and jerk instead of correcting your pulling technique :confused:

Just ditch the overly cushioned high-tech Nike super hyper air zoom with springs and micro chips you’re currently wearing and go with the bare minimum: Vivo’s, Fivefingers, or if you must have Nike, go with the Free 3.0’s. If you have grass available you could definitely go bare foot, but be gradual in your training and listen to your body.

I am flat-footed. Currently, I am wearing New Balance shoes with orthodics in them, to give an arch, but I guess my shin splints haven’t healed yet.

Flat feet are typically caused from weak tib anterior. Which then leads to shin splits.
Shoes are just one culprit. Weak posture is another. I have had ppl permanently rid themselves of shin pain in as little as two wks by working on lower leg posture imbalances and also getting neutral shoes.

Flat feet are typically caused from weak tib anterior. Which then leads to shin splits.
Shoes are just one culprit. Weak posture is another. I have had ppl permanently rid themselves of shin pain in as little as two wks by working on lower leg posture imbalances and also getting neutral shoes.

This is getting off the topic, but exactly, flat feet are a symptom of poor posture and shoes that prevent the muscles around the foot/ankle/shin to function normally (also nutritional deficiencies play a role, but that’s a whole different topic).

Just an update, had my run today. Good and terrible news.

I would’ve made it (7.55) except I pulled my hamstring really bad, so I’ll just wait till it heals and train to get a sub 7 next year. Not to mention I was probably the thickest guy there, cutting some fat will do me good.

I’m not surprised really.
Trying to get too much in such a short time - Pulled hamstring was just waiting to happen.
It takes time to adapt.
Lucky now you have have some Time to do it right for next year.
1st - fix the hamstring

So far I have just been RICE-ing it. It’s been about 48 hours nearly now, do you know when I should start massaging it etc–I see conflicting arguments for how to heal it everywhere. Yesterday I was basically limping cause it hurts too much–now I can walk almost normally, but I’d like to do anything possible to heal it.

At the end of things, what’s the difference between racing oneself into shape vs training to get oneself into race shape?