Tempo question for CF

I gave you a sample answer that I’m sure CF would support. 16-20sec, if it’s too easy add some bw drills btw the drills. Also you could always start out at 20sec and work down to 16sec.

Pioneer, when I coached at the high school level I actually took a day and timed my athletes covering the distance on grass at a relaxed, yet full speed effort. By deriving percentages from those numbers I obviated any guesswork that would have otherwise been necessary in the conversion process from track times.

So you had 100 athletes all running different tempo times. Goodluck with that.

They all ran the tempo sessions at once and I would call out the times as they neared the finish. After a few runs they would settle in to their respective paces. Worked well.

12.1sec PB + 25% = 15.1
11.5sec PB + 25% = 14.4
11sec PB + 25% = 13.8sec

I think you get the picture. Your looking at around Half a sec diff in tempo time for Half sec faster PB When running tempo - So long as that 12.1sec runner isnt running 13sec or low 14 he will be fine.
If he knocks out the odd 14.5 but most are around 15, again, he will be fine.
For the 12sec guy, i would be looking at a range of roughly 15sec - 16.5sec. Like RB34 says, do some push ups, burpees, sit ups, dips, squats, split squats or whatever in-between runs, or every few runs.

Or you could say to some - run faster than a jog, but deff slower than a 400m run. Or tell them, 800m pace.

We use them Wooden log Fences, we run to one, do some jumps over them (holding the log with your hands) or some push ups on them, or dips, then run 50m back where we might do squats, or burpees or something, then repeat but back to the 2nd log, then 3rd log and so on till they are done.
You just need to watch the volume. Doing it this way, it tires the heart out a bit if your run fast and forces one to slow down if they have a tendency to run tempo too fast.

Someone with an 11 second personal best running tempo in under 14 seconds? Good luck with that. What kind of athletes have you been coaching, bold?

Its still 75% - normally due to a much more relaxed start your looking closer to 15sec, but with a rolling start sure, 14sec is easy.

Mind you, guys i had who were 22-23sec 200m shape, we had running 30-32sec tempo, but naturally the odd 27-28sec was popped out, which didn’t really matter so long as most were 30+.
22sec + 25% = 27.5sec. So easy really.

We never bother really timing 100’s - you can tell as a coach if somebody is going too fast with Just your eyes. Esp with Body weight exercises thrown in, that will typically drop the pace to 15-17sec per 100m. EASY. Hard workout, but EASY to recover from.

Im not coaching Sprinters for the last couple of years - but it looks like im moving town in a short while, and plane on looking for Sprinters when i do move. Currently coaching General Population for fitness, weight loss and Figure.

When i have coached sprints - normally high school (then they moved to the big city for uni) and guys were typical 10.65 - 11.20 shape after 6months, By year 11/12 that is. FAT times.

The issue is with the math. If you want the times to be 65%-75% of their PB, you need to add 54% to 33% of their PBs back on, not 25%.

For an 11 second runner, this is 14.7 at 75%, and 16.9 at 65%.

Exactly… Come on Bold, bad math…:slight_smile:

I think he meant add 25% to CF 65-75%, so 11sec at 75% = 14.7 +25%= 18sec.

What? Please explain :slight_smile:
75% off max speed
100% = PB - lets say 10sec
50% off 10sec = 5sec. 5sec + 10sec = 15sec
75% off 10sec = 2.5sec. add your 10sec = 12.5sec
The diff between 75% and 100% is 25%.

What we are not doing is
10sec = 0%
50% = 5sec + 10sec = 15sec (this is the same)
75% = 7.5sec + 10sec = 7.5sec
100% = 10sec, + 10sec = 20sec.

which still isnt what your talking about. Perhaps iv been working too hard in the Sun today!

yes, too much working in the heat today - now you have totally lost me…

What you don’t get?? We are trying to figure out your horrible math… Take the athlete PB and divide by the % you want them to run.

PB in 100m: 11sec
Tempo %: 75

11 divide by .75 = 14.6sec

There is No correct time overall. that is the issue. Temperature, previous workout, time of year, field condition, personal load all play a role. If you can’t be there to supervise, you can’t simply pick a time to make up for it. Tempo times must be flexible enough to adjust for high intensity demand.

Thank you Charlie and if you must use a time, lean towards the right while adding bw drills.

Latiff Thomas highly recommends assigning and timing everything.

Correct…

Right, considering where you’re from, that’s a boldface lie about the times. Regardless though, anybody who has actually worked with someone who is in 11.0fat shape knows that anything approximating 14flat (let alone faster than that) is way too fast for extensive tempo. In fact, I’d question how much volume you could be doing below 15 seconds/100m if you are doing all of the runs on grass and with relatively short (<60seconds) rest between reps. My PR is below 11.0fat and I’ve trained with people who have run substantially faster than that and I am fairly certain none were approximating those kind of speeds for extensive tempo (finish the way you start with incomplete rests and not going too hard), especially when done on softer surfaces.

Let’s say an athlete runs 100m in t0 seconds
We want them to run at 75% effort.

Assuming average velocity, we can work with the following formula: velocity = distance/time
v = 100m / t0

We want the athlete to run at 75% velocity, so multiply the right hand side by (3/4)

v = (100m/t0) * (3/4)
v = (75m/t0)

So the athlete will be running at a pace that will take him 75 meters in the time it would take him to run 100m at full pace. Denote tempo time by tT

75/t0 = 100/tT

75tT = 100t0
tT = (100*t0) / 75
Therefore, tT = (4/3)*t0

So for ex: an 11s 100m sprinter should do 100m tempo runs in 14.67 seconds, if 75% intensity is desired (assuming same surface is being used)

In general, tT = [(100%)*(100m PR)] / (Desired %)

Edit: That was just so everybody is on the same page here on how to calculate the time for 100m tempos, if so desired. But yeah, me personally I really just listen to my body and go at a pace I know I can handle for the entire session without any lactic acid buildup…which happens to be around 65% of my 100m time approximately.

or just remove the decimal point and divide your time by the percentage. For example 1100/75 = 14.6666667.

My masters group simply starts approx 60% and each rep just raise the intensity until we are moving at approximately 75% or hi 14’s low 15’s. Its not that tuff, but then we are in 400 shape.

That’s true, but it’s the same thing. The 100% becomes a 1.00(and hence since 1*a = a, the top becomes simply PR in seconds, and the Desired Percent, xy% becomes 0.xy.

So as you said, tT = PR / Desired % lol

Wow - never thought I’d see so much discussion over percentages. :slight_smile: