hey guys, I have my conference championships coming up soon (Mar 1st). I’m a 60m sprinter, and I’m wondering how I should prepare for it. I mean, when is the best time to stop lifting and to stop sprinting. Can I still do tempo right up to the day prior to competition? Any advice would be helpfull.
Trackman,
In terms of training suggestions (not related to peaking), you need to take more recovery between speed intervals. As a general rule of thumb, you should take at least one minute recovery for each 10m you travel, so a walk back recovery for a 20m sprint is not enough. On your days off, you should be doing tempo instead to help you in recovery and in conditioning. Incorporating some fly work would assist you as well, since everything I see you have listed now as being acceleration work.
What are you doing now? Can you give us last weeks workout and this weeks? We can better make suggestions that way. 
Check the peaking for competition section of the archives (AKA old site )
If the turf is like regular grass or close to it that would be fine. Are there any parks near there? I have only been there once.
Question,
I live in rainy Eugene, Oregon, USA. Here at the U of O, ALL of the grass available is supported by nasty amounts of mud. Would it be okay to do the tempo work on turf (it is rather soft turf)? Thanks in advance.
dlive11,
last week I was still recovering from a sprained shoulder, so I only did weights that week. The only weights I really could do though were ones like leg press or curls - lifts that didn’t involve any shoulder movements. I did the weights on Mon, Wed, Fri.
The Saturday that just past (Feb15th) was the first time I stepped back onto the track. I just did some easy strides (~5), then about 3 excels with spikes on. My shoulder was ok, so I started up sprint training again on this Monday (Feb 17th)that just passed.
On Monday I did 4X20m, 3X60m - followed by lifting;
Tuesday off;
Wed I did (20m+40m+60m+20m) X 3
It is now Thursday, and I think my coach will have me do tempo.
Friday will be off;
Saturday will likely be short speed from different stances - followed by lifting.
Charlie,
I checked the old site, and didn’t quite find the answers I was looking for.
Can you give a detailed discription of Wed’s workout? How is the (20+40+60+20) done?
Charlie,
they are all done from a bent over standing start into a 100% intensity sprint.
There is a walk back rest between each rep, and an 8 minute rest between each set.
Thanks for the advice dlive11, but in regards to your advice about doing tempo on my days off, is ok to ride the stationary bike instead? It’s just that I have had an ongoing problem with shin splints, and I find that the days off really help out in the shin area. I’ve been getting treatment for them and I’ve been doing all kinds of stretching and strengthening exercises, but nothing seems to work as good as a day or two off.
trackman,
I would rather have someone get in the pool before getting on a bike (that would be one of the last resorts). The biking can overdevelop the quads and cause tightness in the IT band. You can imitate the tempo times or effort in the pool much easier. But, as zoom100 mentioned, performing tempo on the grass is the option to go for if at all possible.
Thanks guys,
tempo on the grass bothers the shins just as much. I think I’ll do the pool idea.
It’s been many years since I’ve been in Eugene but they used to keep a lane inside the track made of wood chips that was fantastically shock absorbant and let the water drain through. Any wood chip trail would do.