Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

Mike-

what are your thoughts on one of the new articles posted on the site, "Planning a Fall Conditioning Program for High School Athletes: The Long Sprints & Hurdles" ?

I thought it was well written, good enough to put on the site and offered some valuable information. As with most training articles, I don't agree with everything but that doesn't really mean anything. In fact, I like to post articles that cover a wide spectrum of opinions rather than just those that I agree with. What exactly was it that caught your attention about th article?

I also thought it was well written and I liked some of the ideas.  However, looking at the 14-day microcycle that was set up it would appear that certain workouts seem "mixed up" in the scheme of things, and also that certain training (i.e. high-demand CNS and low-demand CNS) are paired together on same days.

This article and program was written for long sprints and hurdles (300/400 I guess) and although I found most of the workouts (listed generally in the article) to be of quality, it didn't seem like it allowed for proper recovery on days that I thought should be low-demand/recovery-type days….

Example:  in the 14-day micro. week 1 it has: Mon. Hill Training, Tue. Lift, Wed. Speed work & Hurdle Technique work.  First, in your opinion couldn't all these sessions to some extent be performed on a high-demand CNS Monday?  This is followed by a Thurs. lifting session (at what intensity??) , Fri. Fartlek run and Sat. Long Intervals and lift again.  Another thing that caught my eye here was the long interval session combined with a possible intense lifting session….I suppose this may be a GS circuit day also though.

The first part of that week just seemed odd to me more or less.  Week 2 reads: Mon. Hills/Hurdle Tech., Tue. Lift (again, could be combined ??)  I looked at things as if to think they are TOO spread out and a possible waste of quality training time.

These are just things that popped out to me…I get alot out of some articles just like anyone else, but just wondered what your thoughts were about this one.  Thanks as always.

I did in fact notice those same things but the fact that so many coaches suceed with programs similar to the setup described in the article would indicate that while it may not be the best for all (or perhaps any?) it certainly has quite a bit of value if implemented correctly.

I can't speak for the author, but generally when I see "lifting" in articles like this one, I assume this is the heavy lifting for the week (heavy being a relative term).