Randy,
Just over 17 years old.
Charlie,
With development athletes, you’ve often stressed the importance of improving general fitness qualities. That being said, how frequently would these athletes train accel and pure speed compared to sub-elites and elites?
Referring to your third point, would the following be adviseable if I wanted to focus on the development Special E qualities for female 100/200 junior with pr’s of 11.85 & 24.8(16yrs) and 7.68(17yrs).
Week I
Mon: Off (Boxing Day)
Tues: Accel, SE1, Strength End., Weights (squats/DL)
Wed: Tempo (1000-1200), General Strength (body weight)
Thurs: Tempo (1400-1600), Hurdle Mobility,MB Throws
Fri: Accel, SE1, Weights (squats/DL)
Sat: Off
Sun: Off
Week II
Mon: OFF (Facility Closed; Jan 2)
Tues: Accel (Blocks), SE1, Stength End., Weights (squats/DL)
Wed: Tempo (1000-1200), General Strength
Thurs: Tempo (1600), MB Throws
Fri: Accel (Blocks), Short speed (maybe some weights)
Sat: Travel
Sun: Compete (Indoor) 100m & 200m; Jan 8
Week III
Mon: Tempo (1000-1200), General Strength (body weight)
Tues: Off
Wed: Accel (Blocks), SE1, Strength End., Weights (squats/DL)
Thurs: Tempo (1000-1200), General Strength (body weight)
Fri: Tempo (1600), MB Throws, Hurdle Mobility
Sat: Accel (Blocks), SE1, Weights (squats/DL)
Sun: Off
Week IV (Recovery)
Mon: Accel (Blocks), SE1, Strength End.
Tues:Tempo (1000-1200), Hurdle Mobility, General Strength
Wed: Tempo (1000-1200), Med Ball
Thurs: Accel (Block), short speed, Maybe some weights
Fri: Travel
Sat: Compete 60m & maybe a 200m; Jan 21
Sun: Off
*Maintenance weights from week I on…
My intent was to down play the speed to allow for some additional SE1 work; runs of 150-200m (complete run & split runs). The way training as been layed out I would expect relatively imediate success in the 60m with the 200m coming around later in the indoor season.
Thanks for your input, Charlie!
First Point: I thought Speed End. includes 80-150 m, SE1 150-300 m, SE2 300-500 (-600) m. Not a big deal, just for me to keep a common ground with the forum…
Fourth Point: does this apply to athletes of all levels? I.e., the interruption caused by a serial application? And what exactly do you mean by “interruption”? Wouldn’t an athlete of a lesser level be less “confused” by a more serial approach and need more time at each training element? The latter, of course, refers to the focus of training only. Or the benefits could be more from a more general/concurrent approach and for later on in a career?
Thanks!
I think that this thread was on books…? 
I’ve broken Special End down that way in the past, especially when you look at the 400m, but it seems that more people go with just two types of classification, so I’ve tried to keep it mainstream.
It confuses me to the point where it’s probably better to just give the specific distances and let people figure it out from there!
By interruption, I mean a short return to GPP or active rest to recover from a prolonged intensification.
Sorry to insist on this, but would this necessarily be a “bad” thing for a developing athlete? An active rest on a serial approach, that is, even for the longest sprint.
Thanks, Charlie!
So you have 2 sessions of SE1 2 weeks before comps (wks1 +3 with comp the end of wks 2 + 4)? It should be ok, but will this continue as a pattern or will you move to SE once a week?
What is the maintenance weights following? How many weeks of Max Str Weights beforehand?
If you combine the periods without any sort of break, I think you’d slow the progress in this main feature and compromise your chances of moving the other concurrent High Intensity componants up. This is one of the main reasons for indoor competition periods and double or triple periodization vs single period plans.
Point taken and I agree! I was just wondering and being curious if, for example, a break for 200 m racing indoors followed by 400 m racing outdoors would be a viable option (e.g., for a one-off season’s trial/approach for an athlete thinking of moving up the distance)?
Hypothetical scenario!
Thanks once more!
Charlie may i ask for an other hypothetical scenario:
Imagine a sprinter who wants to double 60m at World Indoors on 10 March and 100m at Commonwealth Games on 19 and 20 March, both competitions having equal importance.
Wouldn’t a stop in SE during indoor season have a detrimental effect on speed maintenance? Stoping in Mid January and going back after World Indoors for 1 or 2 SE workouts would be enough to be ready for Commonwealth? Keeping some SE workouts between 60m competitions indoors may interfer with accel/max speed progression up to World Indoors? 
There’s the example of Linford Christie in 1990 who won Commonwealth with 9.93w on 28 January and European Indoors 6.56 on 03 March but more space was allowed between the 2 competitions.
sounds ok.
I don’t see why you can’t keep some SE in till very close to the World Indoor Champs (withing 10days) and then resume for a few sessions before heading for the Commonwealth Games. You would likely only miss 3 or 4 SE sessions, 1 or 2 before the Trials (if any) and prob 2 before the WIC.
Looking at the 200 race and Ben’s workout where he 2 X 200m in 19.5 a few thoughts come to mind.
The impression I have of BJ’s training (from reading stuff on this site) is that it did not involve many SE1 runs beyond 150m, yet in the “occassional” 200m run (like whats above) he was able to run times that would put him amongst the best. If he ran more competitive 200 his pr would be much faster.
What would have a greater influence on the 200m. Runs of 150-180(higher int.) or runs 220-250(lower int.)? I know there are other factors involved but…
Reviewing the “impact of acceleration distance on velocity” graph: an accel distance of 50 (greater intensity) can lead to world record times in the 200m and an accel distance of 40m (lower intensity) can lead to world record times in 200m. If one can do say 2-4 runs at a greater intensity at just below the competitive distance wouldn’t the volume of the workout, say 450-600m (3-4X150), provide the necessary training stimulus for a successful run at a greater distance :rolleyes:
Just some food for thought… :rolleyes:
not from Charlie but…
i do think and have examples of athletes who could do some excellent stuff like 2-4 x something slighly under race distance (i.e, 80m for a 100m person, 150m for a 200m person, or 300-350m for a 400m person) as opposed to 1-2x something longer (e.g., 120-150, 250m, or 450) with very good success…
I think a lot of it depends on psychological make-up. I mean that some athletes really don’t like to run that far and will pony up for the shorter stuff. In other cases some athletes would prefer to do 1-2 runs and get it over with!
not from Keba or Charlie…but good points all round and here is something else to contemplate.
Suspect the shorter work (150-180) is of great value and is a precondition to getting high value from the longer work. This would follow a short-to-long approach, but also some accumulation of sessions at the shorter distances would become the launchpad for a few sessions at the longer distance although in my own mind I’d be thinking of doing the longer work (up to 250m) as special speed endurance or putting something together in the form of the usual split runs.
Hi Charlie, i have read through all your manuals and still can’t quite grsp how to introduce speed endurance over the spp2 looking at a short to long perspective. I have followed yout phase 1 spped progression through 60m as detailed in vancouver 2004. What I want to know is in spp2 do you go back to the recoveries as highighted in spp1 i.e post competition do you go back and start at i.e 3x3x60m with 2.5 mins recover or would you naturally be at a higher intensity and higher recover level i.e more minustes between runs.
and secondly how would i inroduc special endurance runs you say 1-3 runs per workout once a week. but i have confusion when i read through training diaries and the basic plan. for example would this be inapprpraite>
wek 1 2x4 80m with 3.5/ 7 mins recovery
building up to say by week 5 you are doing 2-4 runs over 80m with increasing recoveries say now 8mins / 10 bwtewwn sets?
or would the special endurance need higher recoveries as you state as in 20- 25 mins right from week one??
I would like to give a sampe of spp2 for critique if possible ?
Hey Kebba good to hear from you! It’s been awhile. Anyways regarding your post, do you have athletes that excel at both training distances below and above comp distance? Despite the athletes mental abilities do you see better overall return with work below or above comp distances?
It depends on weather conditions. If you are in good weather or indoors (for some with very long straights) it is possible to move into 80s and beyond with longer breaks right away because you aren’t far away from the indoor build-up to longer breaks and conditions for top level 80s are already established, as Kit Kat suggests .
So, you’d likely start at 7 to 8min rep breaks and 12 to 15 min set breaks, likely at 2 sets of 3 at most. Of course, if the weather is colder at the outset, you’d need to adjust to shorter breaks. Often, the indoor and outdoor tracks are side by side, so, on inclement days, you could do some fast 60s indoors mixed with some shorter break, sub-max longer runs (or one run) outdoors.
This qoute was pulled from the Barry Ross thread. It was referring to all aspects of training. However, it got me thinking of training volumes and distances (the ol’ quality vs. quantity) hence the basis for me creating this thread and for my line of thinking. :o