Posted In: Sprints
My plan this year is to sprint outside, regardless of temperature, as long as the track is clear.
On Saturday I had some athletes doing an SE1 session (350s), and they were much slower than what they are capable of. I’m certain this was because of the cold. My question is how much of a drop off will you normally get from running in a temperature of say, 30F?
When doing workouts in this type of weather, what do you do during recovery? How do you keep warm?
Are there any bathrooms nearby or at least areas with a little cover from wind/rain etc. If not maybe have them do some marching in place, skips, anything low intensity while still allowing them to recover. Plus stress to them that they need to bring a shit ton of layers and in between reps make them put everything back on. I don’t know how much of a drop off there will be because I have not really ran fast when it was that cold so I don’t know about that.
I bring a couple extra layers with me on cold nights. I don’t have access to an indoor track (though one is right next to the outdoor track I use most… taunting me). Lots of layers and never stop moving. Even if it’s just walking or A-skips around the track.
Of course when things get really ugly outside, I’ll just hit the pool for some pool running. It’s definitely not the same, but it’s better than getting injured.
I feel like performance drops off a little bit – but not a lot. It is more recovery that suffers – IMHO – based on recent experiences. If you don’t stay warm between reps, it is very tough to recover. Also – bundling/layering up must impede range of motion and have some performance impact based on that.
You can’t fight mother nature. Certain plans don’t work in arctic temperatures. If your LSU sprint program says to do 3×300 SE and it’s 15 degrees out, time to find a new workout. You shouldn’t have to try to figure out how to stay warm. At that point it’s time for the 10×200 w/ 90sec rest type stuff. I’ve been through all that (workout trumps weather)…having guys “tough it out”. They get tough but run like crap.
I live in Minnesota, and it gets to the point that even distance running out here will tighten a muscle. I suggest really trying to find alternatives to this. Unless it doesn’t get as cold as Minnesota, where ever you are.
Living in the Northeast where the weather changes every hour, I have been training outdoors in most everything for the past 11 years perhaps. Ironically, today I have a workout planned like this; 2 sets of 300/80m, 90 seconds btw reps and full recovery betw sets @ 90% or more of my 400 RP. It is now 28 degrees out. I do my core warm-up in my house plus some mobility and dynamic stretches, then I go outside and do my running warm-up, at this point I am layered up, I have my car parked close by ( I have a measured 400m straightaway course), I strip down and do my first set, I immediately go back to my car, start the motor with heater on. I take a full recovery, get out of car and do some short tempo runs and or easy build-ups, and then do my 2nd set. I layer back up and warm-down, if it is too cold and windy I go home and get on my bike to warm-dowm. You cannot run as fast, however, I have had no problem in hitting 90% of my 400 RP and I do not go beyond 250m in very cold conditions, and no further than 20m for fly-ins. I am going to be 63 next month and I feel training outdoors has helped my immune system and has made me mentally strong for meets. I do have access to an indoor track, however, it is only a 160m bandbox and I hurt my Achilles the last two years running on those tight turns, I’d rather be outside. Just be prudent, dress properly, do quality work and keep warm between sets. hope this helped.
” date=”1260240579″]You can’t fight mother nature. Certain plans don’t work in arctic temperatures. If your LSU sprint program says to do 3×300 SE and it’s 15 degrees out, time to find a new workout. You shouldn’t have to try to figure out how to stay warm. At that point it’s time for the 10×200 w/ 90sec rest type stuff. I’ve been through all that (workout trumps weather)…having guys “tough it out”. They get tough but run like crap.
So if intensity is the same, yet actual performance times during a given session are off, are you saying they are not improving?
[quote author=”mortac8[Ashley Mort]” date=”1260240579″]You can’t fight mother nature. Certain plans don’t work in arctic temperatures. If your LSU sprint program says to do 3×300 SE and it’s 15 degrees out, time to find a new workout. You shouldn’t have to try to figure out how to stay warm. At that point it’s time for the 10×200 w/ 90sec rest type stuff. I’ve been through all that (workout trumps weather)…having guys “tough it out”. They get tough but run like crap.
So if intensity is the same, yet actual performance times during a given session are off, are you saying they are not improving?[/quote]
They may improve some quality but it’s probably going to be quite dampened especially in the realm of speed development.
Living in the Northeast where the weather changes every hour, I have been training outdoors in most everything for the past 11 years perhaps. Ironically, today I have a workout planned like this; 2 sets of 300/80m, 90 seconds btw reps and full recovery betw sets @ 90% or more of my 400 RP. It is now 28 degrees out. I do my core warm-up in my house plus some mobility and dynamic stretches, then I go outside and do my running warm-up, at this point I am layered up, I have my car parked close by ( I have a measured 400m straightaway course), I strip down and do my first set, I immediately go back to my car, start the motor with heater on. I take a full recovery, get out of car and do some short tempo runs and or easy build-ups, and then do my 2nd set. I layer back up and warm-down, if it is too cold and windy I go home and get on my bike to warm-dowm. You cannot run as fast, however, I have had no problem in hitting 90% of my 400 RP and I do not go beyond 250m in very cold conditions, and no further than 20m for fly-ins. I am going to be 63 next month and I feel training outdoors has helped my immune system and has made me mentally strong for meets. I do have access to an indoor track, however, it is only a 160m bandbox and I hurt my Achilles the last two years running on those tight turns, I’d rather be outside. Just be prudent, dress properly, do quality work and keep warm between sets. hope this helped.
You rock, Oldspeeder. Post on here more often! I think we need more master’s competitors posting on this site.
Those are some tough workouts for a “middle-aged” guy… What is your current 400m Target?
” date=”1260240579″]You can’t fight mother nature. Certain plans don’t work in arctic temperatures. If your LSU sprint program says to do 3×300 SE and it’s 15 degrees out, time to find a new workout. You shouldn’t have to try to figure out how to stay warm. At that point it’s time for the 10×200 w/ 90sec rest type stuff. I’ve been through all that (workout trumps weather)…having guys “tough it out”. They get tough but run like crap.
Is always close to freezing when i train during winter. So i cant be doing tempo all the time …
I think we need more master’s competitors posting on this site.
Those are some tough workouts for a “middle-aged” guy… What is your current 400m Target?
Thanks Matt for the comments, yes, they are tough wo/s, however, new research shows that intense wo’s are as beneficial or more so than slow aeorbic runs, plus I like to take short recoveries to keep the HR up, exactly what happens in a 400. I do very little distance running other than in the early Fall and my resting pulse is in the low 40’s. They say if you can run your age in the 400 you are doing something special, very few masters can do it, I ran 59 @ 59, but have not since, have also read that as we get older our lung capacity diminishes, I’m hoping for 63@63 or below, right now I’m around 63.5 based on timed workouts @ 325m. We middle-aged runners must train as intensily as you younger sprinters; however, rest is very important and we can only do 2 hard wo/s per week, with recovery; i.e. extensive tempo in-between. We’ve found that taking an extended layoff of 6 months or more makes it more difficult to come back, you lose motivation and it is harder to maintain times. We have to be vigilent regarding injuries; I love the 100m, can run 13 flat without concentrating on it, however, it’s like playing russian roulette, you have a good race, and the next you pull, as we get older we lose flexibilty no matter how much you stretch, so I decided a few years back to move to the 400, less chance of serious injury, you guys know it, when you run a good 400, there is no greater feeling, it’ll never be an easy race, but that’s where the mental toughness comes in, and training outside gives me that. I have learned a lot from you guys, no one has all the answers, I’ve been running masters track for 30 years and wish I knew then what I know now about training. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my running experiences.