When was the last time you sprinted? Really went top speed for 4 or 5 seconds?
In my mind, it's really an expression of strength - propelling the body forwards with all the power you can muster, and keeping a tight core. But it seems like so few people do it, unless they play a sport like soccer. Today was my first time on the track in about a year, and probably longer before that. My rec activities of karate and volleyball don't involve that kind of speed work.
For those who do sprint, I'd love to hear any track sessions you are fond of doing. I'm looking at doing a track meet in the fall, need to get my running legs under me.
I did a track session today so I thought I'd share the workout. All of it performed on a football field (I rarely sprint on the track). Keep in mind this is different than what one would do in a team setting with coach oversight, but I am training on my own without a coach, and don't feel motivated to videotape myself to make sure I'm doing technical work right. Also this is a deload week for me so volume of main sets and accessory work is a bit lower
1. Warm up hips/spine
-lying leg lengthening, lying hip thrusts, lying leg twists, cat camel, tall kneeling waist bend, natural leg extensions, scap shrugs (push up position), pumps, push ups to T
2. Skips
-around 600 yards of walk / skip
-front skip, side skip, carioca, back skip, 1st time through each one individually, 2nd/3rd time thru I just flow through all of them and then catch my breath
3. Sprint specific skips
I have two different versions, one for acceleration and one for max speed. Today was:
-A walk, A skip, ankle dribbles, calf dribbles, knee dribbles, straight leg scissor bound, bent leg scissor bound, butt kicks, high knees (do each for 15 - 20 yards, walk 10-20 yards or so in between exercises)
4. Dynamic mobility - again two versions of these, but this is the one I do on linear max speed days
-hurdler switches, inverted sagittal plane scissors, eagles, scorpions, plank hip circles, side plank arch ups with reach
5. 2 x 30-40 build up runs
6. 3 x 2 flying 20's, around 2 minute walk between reps, 3-4 minutes between sets
7. Double leg hops (backwards/sideways/forwards). On deload weeks I skip the single leg versions.
8. Accessory strength work - 2 sets of circuits of (SLDL, step ups to weight bench, hyperextensions, deck squats), weighted to be in the 15-20 rep range
-I alternate my lower body accessory work on max speed day every few months. High rep work like the above for a few, then lower rep ballistic type stuff for a few months
-on acceleration days its a trap bar deadlift and single leg lunge/RFESS/step up variety, in the range of 3 sets of 4-6 reps on one day, and 5 sets of 2-3 reps on the other. Both followed by a 3-5 minute med ball circuit for the core
9. Cool down
-lying leg wall shakes, lying leg external hip rotator shakes, hyperextension hang, dead hang - each for 30-60 seconds
Not sure if this will help anybody but this has worked pretty well for me as an adult without oversight. If I were to start to train for a specific sprint, I would make Tue a max speed day, Thursday an acceleration day, and Saturday a speed endurance day. If I found myself in a position where I planned on sprinting and doing a mile run, I think I would change my Saturday sessions to alternate between extensive tempos Charlie Francis style one week (build up to maybe 2k in 100 m intervals) and maybe just warming up and then doing an easy run to over-cover the distance (maybe work up to two mile runs) the other weekend. Of course, this reflects my own bias towards the sprint work and assumes a bit of time to the event. Also, I think preparing for the sprint makes sense because the intensity of the race is probably higher risk for injury than the mile run, which is less likely to injure you other than overuse injury, so train to cover the distance but no more. But I'm sure there are plenty of ways to skin that cat.
Best of luck with the pentathlon.
