Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

Can you race in your first meet (100/200) having not run at 100% in practice any time before hand, ie: no 100% speed work (flat out sprints) in the relevant past? If you've done very little speed work what's a few sessions that could be useful to prepare for the first meet?

I think you can certainly do it. Many people who follow a long-to-short protocol haven't done true speed work prior to their early season meets.

As for what sessions you should do to prepare in a circumstance like this, I think it really depends on what you've done preceding it. If you haven't done any speed work at all, I'd probably start with  some faster tempo work (intensive) and shorter sprints (<20m).

mike - 25 January 2007 06:40 PM

I think you can certainly do it. Many people who follow a long-to-short protocol haven't done true speed work prior to their early season meets.

As for what sessions you should do to prepare in a circumstance like this, I think it really depends on what you've done preceding it. If you haven't done any speed work at all, I'd probably start with  some faster tempo work (intensive) and shorter sprints (<20m).

i was thinking the samething about the athletes who follow a long to short program, i would probably start out with 30m and work from there at this point.

thanks for the advice guys - it was exactly what I wanted to hear.

RE this topic. What about an opening 400m if you're prior training has been continuous tempo/over distance tempo up till at least 3 weeks, and probably going on towards at least 2 weeks prior to race. Would it be wise to do some work at race pace/slightly faster? and/or, is it ok to have your first run in spikes for a season be a 400m race, or should some work be done in them prior to the race? I'm wondering whether it could risk injury having done no spike work at race pace or close to it before the opener? What are your opinions?