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1

Hey all. I’ve been on this site learning all that I can about sprinting, and have applied it to my training. I have been training using a short to long program for about 3 years now. I started running track in the 3rd grade and competed mainly in the 55/200m events. I played football for 4 years in high school, and also played lacrosse for 2 years before switching to track for indoor and outdoor.I ran track during my junior and senior years, and the workouts had minimal speedwork and mostly middle distance type workouts. For example: Mon: 1600,1200,800,400 and back up with walk 200m for recovery. Tuesday we did this workout where we ran in place on a high Jump may for 2min intervals, Weds we had 6-8 150s in about 21-23 seconds with lunges in between sets, Thursday we had Continuos 600m repeats, so kind of like a relay. Not the best but I tried. My progressions are as follows:

11th grade 55m-6.9
200m-24.5
400m-54.2

12th grade 200m- 23.2
400m-53.5

freshman year of college- I injured my hamstring, and it was thought I was a mid d/distance runner. I competed in the 400h/800/1500
60m-8.5
200m-25.8
400m-59.7
800m-2:23
1500m-5:04
400h-1:06

sophmore year- got moved down to the 400/800
60m-8.23
200m- 24.8
400m-54.5
800m-2:13

junior year I dropped down to the 60/100/200/400
60m-7.38
100m-11.15
200m-23.4
400m-52.2

senior year I ran mostly the 60/200. Suffered a hamstring injury that put me out for most of the indoor season.
60m-7.12
100m-10.85
200m-22.8( managed a 21.3 split outdoors)
400m-51.8

I am 22 years of age,5’10 165lbs. Weight room numbers are:
bench press:275lbs
squat: 355lbs
deadlift 335lbs
power clean 215lbs
hip thrust 425lbs

i recently opened up this past weekend with a 7.23 after a big stumble and a 23.31 stumbling again. I recently changed my block settings so I attribute these stumbles to it. I hope to run sub 7 and 22 low in 8 weeks, for our club championships. Any advice on how to focus my workouts to achieve these goals would be appreciated. I have speed trap, CFTS, Supercompensation and Recovery and Weights for speed. My weekly schedule is as follows for the next few weeks

Monday: speed(accels/Max v) (3x10,3x30, 3x60, maybe flys) 300-400m lower body weights( squats, hip thrust, power cleans)
tues tempo 8x200m maybe 2000m max
weds speed/spec end (4x20 and 2x150) upper body, bench, hang clean, glute ham kickbacks, back extensions
Thursday off
Friday tempo 2000m Max
sat/Sunday off

sound good?

2

12/29 Tuesday
4x10m resisted runs, 8 min break,4x20m,4 mins between reps, 8 min break, 3x30m,5 mins between reps, 10 min break between sets, 2x150m 16.88,16.72 from first movement.

squats 3x3 225,275,295
deadlifts 3x5 185,225,255
hip thrust 3x3 185,225,315

box jumps 3x3
broad jumps 3x2

Decent session. Still feel like I can do more, but I was pleased with the 150s. Just have to get them in the 15 sec range…

3

I’m reading with interest, keep updating.

The fact that your coaches thought you were a middle distance guy is sad but typical.
The 6.9 in the 55 to 54.2 in the 400 should have been an early tipoff, IMO.

One thing I would do with your setup, if you’re going with 2x a week for high intensity: spread them out. Right now you’re at Monday/Wednesday.
You can stretch that to Monday/Thursday or Monday/Saturday and get more work in on the high intensity days and still be fully recovered.

Your lifts seem uneven to me - 215 power clean is much more impressive than the 335 deadlift, IMO. The weights are obviously secondary but I wonder if you have the potential to load up a lot more in the “engine”; you’re clearly really effective at using that engine for explosive movements.

The 12/29 workout is a good session, but my first thoughts are :

  1. What’s the overall lifting plan/progression?
  2. Do you think your body could handle a few more plyometric activities on a day like this?
4

hey stylee,

i appreciate you taking the time to read and reply and really value your input. Yeah it’s ridiculous but hey just have to make the most of the situation we are given. I’ve always thought I needed to get stronger, and get a bigger" engine", I’m sure I could load up on the weights a bit more, so I willI go with a 2 hi week like you are saying. I tend not to deadlift much, but it may be a lift I need to do more of, I’ve always felt my hamstrings could never really handle my speed. If anything, I tend to do deep back squats more than anything else, I’ve felt the most comfortable with that lift… And the cleans seem easy to me, they just hurt my wrist so I’ve never really attempted to go much higher.

1)Early on during my gpp, I would lift in sets of 3-4 sets and 6-8 reps depending on how I was feeling. As I got closer to competing, I dropped them to 3 sets of 4-5 reps. I took a week and a half break from weights because I had no access to a weight room of any sort, so I went easy with the reps and weights.

  1. I’m sure I could do more plyometric activity on these days, plyos are really fun, lol. Do you have any suggestions as to what plyos to do and how to set them up?
5

I’m not necessarily saying you need to go heavier or deadlift more, just that the deadlift looked out of step with the clean. For reference, I’m 5’8, 156 and my lifts are:

  • Bench: 240
  • Clean: 205
  • Deadlift: 380

I think your weights setup actually looks good and you’re on the right track. If you’re just not deadlifting often, the relatively low deadlift makes sense. One thing I’m adding to my lifts is straight leg deadlifts to directly target the hamstrings. Right now I’m doing 3x10 with pretty low weight (135 lbs) but I may try to ramp that up in the enxt few weeks.

As far as plyometrics, there are guys far smarter than me on this board who can add more input, but I know what I do: usually 3 different plyo workouts per session, usually in the 3-10 rep range. I tend to pair these with lifts, with a 3-5 minute recovery after the lift. Today, for instance:

  • Bench press + Bounds (3x10)
  • Power Clean + Depth jumps from 1-2 feet (3x3)
  • SLDL + Vertical jump (3x5)

And then cycle through a variety throughout each micro-cycle (Bounds and depth jumps staples, and then add in standing long jump, box jump, single leg bounds, weighted vertical, med ball hop+throws, etc).

Another thing I like is adding in a few plyos and plyo-like activities to the warmup routine. LKH mentioned, in another thread, depth drops/jumps as part of a warmup, which is a cool idea to me.

You seem to be making improvements and you obviously don’t want to threaten that by overloading yourself, so take this all with a grain of salt.

6

Thank you so much. It’s really good to see things from another person’s point of view. I really like your input and will definitely start by pairing those lifts with the plyometrics as you’ve mentioned. I tend to do a set of 3 depth jumps before my acceleration days, and I also do a set of 10 bounds during the warmup as well. Drops could work well, I’ve read about it but I was unsure as to how to incorporate it, but maybe slowly and with low volume in the warmup on speed days may be the trick.

As as far as a setup for next week, I plan on doing a minor competition, running the 60/200 combo again. Would the following be an ideal setup?
monday: accel/Max v/speed change +weights
tues tempo
Weds off
thursday pre meet/ shakeout
friday competition

and then the following week something along the lines of

monday accel/Max v (4x10,3x20,3x30, 3x30m flys w 20m buildups) + weights
tues off
weds tempo 2000m
thurs short speed +SE in the form of 150s again + weights
friday tempo 1000m

7

I think that’s a good setup.

Here’s what I do as far as HI sessions

SPP:

Week 1 - 2 sessions
Week 2 - 3 sessions
Week 3 - 3 sessions
Week 4 - 2 sessions

I ramp up the intensity and volume for the first three weeks, then ease back some on the intensity and way back on the volume in Week 4. Attack and release. And every 4 weeks I’ll shift focus - acceleration to top speed to speed endurance (though each element is in at some level at every stage).

I’m trying to stick to this and watch for overtraining this year - really seeing some results.

A 20m buildup is pretty short for a fly, IMO - at that point, it might be functioning more as a speed-change drill than a true “maxV run”. With your top speed (10.85 = 0.93-0.95 top 10m split), you won’t be hitting anything near max velocity until at least 40 meters of acceleration. I generally do our fly runs with 30-40 meters of acceleration.

However, if you’re getting results from it…keep it up!

8

I never looked at it like that… I usually just went with the flow but maybe a more structured program would provide better results. Last year I would usually go 3 hi intensity sessions a week and while I achieved some results there were times I did not feel as recovered as I would have liked. And the fly suggestion makes sense, as my times over a 30m fly with a 20m buildup aren’t as good(usually in the 2.8 range) but when I use a 30 or 40m buildup I usually get in the 2.6 low to 2.7 low range consistently. I will definitely incorporate a longer buildup. Thank you!!

9

Weds 12/30

Feeling sore in the glutes/ hamstrings. Decided to go with a low intensity circuit to help with recovery. I think it’s because I haven’t done plyos/weights on a consistent basis with that much speedwork, but I’m not hurting or anything. Last night I took a 15 min Epsom salt bath and foam rolled/ stretched. My circuit consisted of:

30 pushups
30 jumping jacks
30situps
20 clapping push-ups
20 rocket jumps
30 v ups
20 squats
10 lunges each leg

did this 3 times with about 15 secs in between each exercise and a bout 1-2 mins between sets. Felt decent. Can’t wait for Friday’s speed session again.

10

When you go 3 HI, the actual volume per-session can be lowered ---- now you’re spreading the work across more days.

So, totally hypothetically:

On a 2 HI week I might go with 1,000 total meters, split 500-500
On a 3 HI week I might go up to 1,200 total meters, split 400-400-400, and sprinkle in a bit more plyo/weights. Or you could conceivably even drop the total volume but have higher intensity 300-300-300 or something, for a 900 total. That 900 could be of a much higher quality than the 1000 of the 2-a-week

These numbers are pulled out of thin air, obviously. And if you are feeling good about what you’re doing now…stick to it!

11

What would be the emphasis on those three days?Short Speed, spec end… And the third day would be a longer speed day?I tend to do 150s on my spec end day, but in terms of progressing it would I just increase the distance over the next few weeks? Maybe 2 more weeks of 150s, then 2-3 weeks of 200s, then 2-3 more weeks of 250s while gradually extending out the accels… For instance I’m doing mostly 20s and 30s now but once I’m technically sound and able to accelerate cleanly, 40,50,60m distances would be the next move no?

12

Thursday 12/31
37 degrees out.
8x200m tempo at 36 with 1:30 rest.
Felt decent. Glutes/hams a bit tight to start but loosened up as I went along.

13

Friday 1/1

35 degrees out! Happy 2016!

2x30 relaxed starts from 3 point
3x20m from 4 point with 3 mins rest (2.94,2.81,2.79) from first movement

2x30m flys with a 30m buildup (2.69,2.87)

  • took about 5 mins between flys when I should’ve taken more but it was so cold!

  • considered calling it quits after the first because it gave me a headache on the left side of my head… Prob dehydrated or maybe I was fried…
    -tried to use a 40m buildup for the second, i think if I hadn’t rushed it i would’ve been fine. Overall not too bad of a session

i did feel kind of flat… Nothing crazy just wish I had a bit more bounce. The first fly I was really relaxed and felt like I wasn’t on the ground… Didn’t have to push much for speed. The second one I figured, the first one was decent, if I push harder I’ll run faster… Didn’t work out that way lol. You live and you learn. Guess if I don’t feel the ground much it’s a good thing?

14

Changed my start recently. Feels more comfortable, not sure how it looks technique wise…
https://instagram.com/p/_ngbIZKPeR/

15

Yeah, I think that’s the right idea. Here’s what our short sprinters did in the last 2 weeks (Weeks 5 and 6 of a 10 week SPP)

Week 5
M: 10x10; 5x30; 3xfly 20
T: 15x100 tempo
W: Recovery
Th: Break
F: 15x100 tempo
S: 8x60 (accelerate 30m, cruise next 30)

Week 6:
M: 4xfast-easy-fast (20,20,20); 4x40
T: 10x100 tempo
W: Recovery
Th: 2x300 (accelerate 30m, cruise next 270)
F: 10x100 tempo
S: 10x20; 6x30; 3xf20

This is part of our speed block 4 week micro-cycle, hence the emphasis on the flying 20s and speed change. Second in order of emphasis is starts/accelerations, though we’re only out to 30 meters in Week 5 and just nudging into 40 meters in Week 6.

The 300s are nominally speed endurance but, with an acceleration gate of 30 meters, they don’t hit as hard as true speed endurance. We’re actually working backwards on our speed endurance - so we will meet with full-speed 120s and 110s once we get to the point where we’re accelerating out to 60 meters on our acceleration days, if that makes sense - but I don’t necessarily recommend that approach.

Cliff Notes:

  • When we have 3 HI days a week, we double up days on whatever aspect (acceleration, speed, speed endurance) of running that we’re emphasizing in that micro-cycle. I don’t think this is the only way or the best way.
16

Monday 1/4
4x10m block starts 2 mins rest
3x15m block starts(1.98,2.01,2.00)3 mins rest
4x20m block starts(2.61,2.64,2.58 all from first movement) 4 mins rest
8 min break
Felt really powerful, didn’t feel the ground too much

3x30m block starts(3.63,3.60,3.65)5 mins in between
Emphasis on a piston action with the legs, by the time I came up I was around 50m so I think I’m getting close to my top speed around here
, 10 min break then:

1x60m block start (NT) this one felt bad, I felt a bit tired after the 30s idk why I pushed for this one…felt like I was feeling the ground with every step
My left hamstring was feeling tight, think i was at my limit or needed more than 10mins of recovery.
weights
4x3 squats 135,225,315,315
4x5 deadlift 135,185,185,205
back extensions 3x10

plyos
depth jumps 3x4
Double leg bounds 2x20m
tuck jumps 3x4

17

saturday is a tough workout! How do they handle that kind of volume at the end of the week? And I’m assuming week 5 was the week of 2 high days, and you plan on loading them up for weeks 6&7? Really good stuff. When will you guys compete?

18

[b]

Monday Saturday is too much of a spread. The maximum you would want would be Monday , Thursday, Tuesday/Friday etc .[/b]

19

thank you Angela!! On my low weeks I plan on doing more of a Mon/Thurs or Tues/Fri spread. The other two weeks I think I will go with a low volume(not over 400m) of speed depending on how I am feeling. After yesterday’s workout, I feel fine today so I think I can bump my volume up a bit over the course of the next few weeks. As my speed volume goes up, can the intensity of the weights increase while having the volume decrease? I don’t plan on competing for about another month or so…

20

Ange is probably right here. One of the reasons we do Mon/Sat is that it’s easier to actually get everyone together for us on Saturdays. Some people are in school, some people have funky work schedules, etc., so unfortunately team practices get tough to coordinate during the week.

Yeah, Saturday was a tough day. We don’t stick to anything on paper religiously - if form or performance starts to noticeably degrade, we shut down the workout. And since there’s only 3 short sprinters in my club (myself included; we’ve got four 200/400 guys and two jumpers too), it’s pretty easy to keep a close eye on everyone. My fastest guy is a bit faster than you right now, and he’s the only one who gets super burned out by flying20s. Me and the other guy (11.2-11.5 range, lol) simply can’t turn the CNS up high enough to get drained. And with the previous workout being 2x300 in a pace that’s actually not too quick, everyone seemed pretty recovered.

Week 7 is a little more intense than 6, and then we back down again in Week 8.

We compete at the end of January. Feeling really optimistic right now!