Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

we are in our fourth week of training (12 week season) and we are planning a hill workout wednesday afternoon. but we also need to get our back squat work in for the week (meet on saturday). we had a speed session on monday and we have a light accel session friday. i am wondering if we could have a high intensity (light volume) bsq session wednesday am? warm-up, wu bsq, bsq 3x3 @ 85% (we have done 3 weeks of 4x5 bsq), hurdle mobility. then hit the hill for a intensive tempo type session. the hill workout is a lot like the 6x200 2-3’ b/w rep 400 workout. our short sprinters will do more of a 6x150 set-up. thoughts?

ok ... we are planning to bsq prior to the hill workout. you have 20 hours to save me from myself.
warm-up
bsq
hills (15 degrees?)(long sprinters 6x130m w/ 2-3’ b/w);(short sprinters 2x4x80 w/ 2-3’ rest
ghr
sldl
hurdle mobility

Why do you want to do back squats before hills?

I never liked doing much running stuff after back squats. I messed around with it a couple times, but my quads seemed too active.

i don’t really want to ... but we have a meet saturday (so no friday bsq). there really isn’t any other day to get them in. if we don’t bsq this week i am afraid we will get real sore when we go back to it next week. or is it ok to take 10 days off from bsq during gpp/spp?

But why do you have to do them before? If you are lifting at maintenance levels, there shouldn’t be too much of an issue with them after hills.

well ... i figured 3x3 @ 85% was a lot to ask after an intensive tempo hill workout.

I don’t see any issue with lowering the intensity if necessary. If you’re lifting at least 80% or so, you’re still going to have enough intensity for maintenance.

hscoach - 25 March 2008 04:23 PM

well ... i figured 3x3 @ 85% was a lot to ask after an intensive tempo hill workout.

What i found to be good for me is to take the athlete 3rm and divide that by 1.2 and use for 1-3x1-3. I think during a season 80-85% may be too much to handle.

You’ll be good doing them post.  Unless you’re doing them with an AM/PM split session I really like to go track work->weights.  Like those have said above, just drop the intensity a bit if needed.  Heavier/Static lifts after “slower” speed endurance type work fits quite well thematically (if you’re not totally tanked from the session).  Additionally, you’ll be warm literally and neurally from your track work. You won’t need to warm up again and you won’t need as many sets to reach your work weights.

Early in the year I actually intentionally do a heavy strength session (including squats) before going to run hills. We do an acceleration session on the hill. At this point in time, the focus is more on strength development so weight room is prioritized on this particular day of the week and I don’t find any negative affects on the hill running performance. After the second cycle of the year we don’t do this anymore.

mike: what about bsq prior to longer hill runs? we are not really working on acceleration today - more intensive tempo. would you still bsq before hills in my case? we are still prioritizing strength - that is why i wanted to bsq while we were fresh. i was hoping for a strength boost early in the season before we start to de-emphasize weights and focus on max velocity.

While it’s not terrible, I personally wouldn’t do a heavy back squat session before tempo work. In fact, I wouldn’t pair them in any order unless there was some very special circumstances.

update: we had a good hill session and backed off on the back squats afterwards (about 75-80%). the fittest athletes had no problems - but my younger kids had to just do supplementary lifts. maybe next year their coach will figure it out.

Thanks for the follow up. What was the running workout and how much rest did they have between it and the squat workout?

WU A
Long Sprinters (6x130m hill @ 85% w/ 2.5-3’ b/w reps(about 15-20 degree angle?). Our top male 400 runners (51 FAT) took 26-27 seconds to get to the top - about the same time they run their 6x200m reps at.
Short Sprinters (2x4x90m @ 50% first 30m - 75% second 30m and up to 90% last 30m w/ 2-3’ recovery b/w reps and 5’ b/w sets).
Active Cool Down (skipping and jogging and dynamic mobility and hurdle mobility - 20-30 minutes between hills and weights)
Weights BSQ 3x3 @ 75-80%; A2G Squats 2x8 (light); reverse extension 2x6; ghr 2x6; decline abs 3x25; crunches

One of our top male 400m runners did 3x3 @ 85% w/ no trouble - but our short sprinters really had to back off their squats.