My view is as follows. In the first oinstance you won’t make big gains in time in a GPP phase anyway, so at this stage it is natural for you to feel a bit slower.
However, the type of training you’re doing seems to be far too heavily skewed to hypertrophy anyway. It isn’t in itself going to make you faster.
You seem to be doing speed endurance work when you haven’t got the speed. I can’t remember which coach I’m quoting when I say, “you can’t endure speed if you don’t have it”
The modifications I would make to your program would be to complex the plyos and the lower leg training which will give you Ethe fastest strenght and power gains, without adding too much bulk.
I would shorten the distances. Max speed work pull down to flying 10’s then building to flying 30’s.
I would also pull down the speed endurance work to 120’s at the most but do these as in-and-outs.
I would also include one accedeeration session per week as this seems to be absent but accounts for about 60% of a 100m race.
Hope this helps.
Lee makes very good points. I like complexing very much and would actually recommend complexing Max Strength with Oly lifts as well as plyos. Hit as many points on the force/time curve as possible.
Let me first say that I am not now nor was I ever a sprinter, so keep that in mind when you consider my input. Having said that, my view for training younger sprinters, especially if they have very little training time before competitions, such as yourself, is different than you will get from many sprinters and sprint coaches. Here goes….
Max velocity training is the most difficult aspect of sprint training. It is very difficult to improve Max V, or top speed, yet that is what everyone wants you to focus on. For an elite sprinter in top form whose strength, acceleration and endurance are already optimized, improving Max V is paramount. But for you, I would suggest alternative goals.
Acceleration is Your Top Priority
Yes, work Max V, but do not focus on it. As mentioned above, acceleration is most of the race so work on that. The weights, plyos, hills and sleds will help greatly, and if you complex in a couple of reps of 20-30m free accels between hill and sled sets, you can improve your accel dramatically in the time you have. Do accel workouts twice per week. The first workout you can also do some fly 20s or in-and-outs (fef, efe) to hit Max V, but the changes to acceleration will come more quickly and pay bigger dividends than Max V training in the time you have.
Speed Endurance is Critical
Speed Endurance is another thing you can make substantial improvements in a short period of time. Also, for a slower sprinter (compared to elite) speed endurance is even more important because you will hit Max V probably some time in the first half of the race or shortly thereafter, while an elite may not hit Max V until 70m. As mentioned above, this doesn’t mean long runs, just longer, maybe out to 120m as suggeted. Rolling start 80s with less than full recovery can work here as well.
Since the first workout is primarily accel and speed, you can focus the second workout on accel and speed endurance, mixing in a little Max V if you like.
This may be contradicted by many and may not be popular, but in my opinion, you can’t get around the fact that Max V is not easily trainable, while accel and speed endurance are, especially in a short period of time. Considering the short amount of time you have to improve performance, I believe you can do more to improve your overall 100m performance, and definitely you 60m performance, by focusing on the deficiencies that can be most improved in a short amount of time.
Lastly, you can phase out/reduce the heavier sleds and steeper hills as you reduce your resistance training volume during the final few weeks. Sprint workouts then might consist of 4-6 full acceleration 60’s with full recovery.
A final argument to make my case….consider two sprinters training only twice per week and having only a few months to train. They both work accel, Max V, and Speed Endurance, but one focuses on Max V two days the other on accel two days, working Max V on one of those days and Speed Endurance on the other. The sprinter focusing on Max V may hit a slightly, and I mean slightly, higher speed, but he will do so coming form behind, and will struggle more to maintain that speed for the next 50m than his friend who really focused on speed endurance. I think the accel/speed endurance guy wins this race, but again that’s just my humble opinion, and I’m not an expert.
