[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 10, 2012 at 9:40 am #18528

Hi folks,

I’m Sebastian from Germany and I’m a beginner in track sprinting.

I started training sprinting 3 weeks ago. So I only had a few sessions on the track. I trained after some workout plan I got from the internet. Just to get the whole sprinting started.

Now that I’m into it I want to start with a proper training program to become the best 200m and 400m sprinter I can become in my age of 26. So I could use some advice and I think you are the right people to help me with your knowledge.

I read all the FAQs on ELITETRACK and some articles and still I’m uncertain how to train to improve my sprinting skills.

For the start I would prefer a full training program to learn the base of sprinting and how my body reacts to the training. With more and more experience I hope I will be able to adapt the training program to my personal needs, strengths and weaknesses.

What is your recommendation for a great basis sprint training program?

Best regards,
Sebastian

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 10, 2012 at 10:47 am #117869

I’ve read through alot of online training programs, and I still haven’t found one that is really very good. Most of them are either way too high of volume for a sub-elite, are way too tempo based, or require facilities that most don’t have access to. Your best option would be to hire a coach, but seeing as that is not always an option I’m sure any number of the members of this board could help out. If it was just a program you wanted I could probably type something up if you wanted.

[cardinal]

cardinal on September 10, 2012 at 12:23 pm #117871

Hey sebastian,

I’m in a very similar place. All I’ve found that’s going in the right direction for me is to really focus on

1) dropping the pounds – fat don’t fly. Really, honestly, it means for rank novices like us a “super-long” to short (sprints) – start jogging and watching your diet. general strength work like push-ups (press-ups?), sit-ups, chins, dips, lunges, squats, lots of abdominal work , and using a light (3-5kg) medicine ball will help too. To start, frequency (how often you’ll do an activity) matters much more than volume (how much) or intensity (how hard it is on your central nervous system). You’re going for the sensation of feeling hot and flushed. For any of the running, I’d probably cap the volume of any session at 3km – which for sprinters does not have to be a 3km run at a super slow pace, nor should it (search for “Tempo”). If you can run on grass, do so. heck, for GENERAL development, if you’re playing regular soccer games, you may be in good enough cardiovascular condition to work at the sprint position with Hill sprints (find a hill, run up. the incline helps you get into positions you otherwise could not). Elite sprinters are in the 5% body fat range, and I’m shooting for the 9-10% range personally. If you can see your abdominal muscles, then:

2) gaining the strength you need – if it looks right it flies right! I’m really referring to your glute and hamstring development here. your butt extends the hip, which propels you down the track. Lifts like full squats, romanian dead lifts, reverse hypers, deadlifts all help develop these muscles the way you need. again, frequency > volume > intensity. then there’s the special strength that hurdle step over drills, bounding, skipping and jumping develops, which you’ll want to add in gradually from the very start. if condition 1 is met, and you start to look like a sprinter from the waist down (big butt and hamstrings that look like they go up to your ribs) then you can look at the schedules of what US collegiate sprinters do (see the clyde hart or Dan Pfaff pages).
3) consistency – which for you and me is actually more about being ABLE to train than the training itself, which means really focusing on getting good sleep, good food, and paying attention to nagging things that come up.

Speed Reserve (how Absolutely fast you are) is the ultimate determinant of how fast you’ll race. However, it’s not the only determinant and it’s the hardest to influence.

As far as a program goes, what I’ve found is that every time I write something down, life laughs at it. I’d have a plan, but not be afraid to alter or abolish it at any point and start over.

Here’s where I’m restarting myself.

1-3x a week –
Fitness session
Warm-up 15-20 minutes
main running work – really I’m just going for as close to 20 minutes of continuous motion, could be traditional tempo, or hill work or even running in place, but for each rep, I’m limiting myself to 30 seconds before pausing to recover so the quality doesn’t diminish too much.
General Strength 10 minutes of push-ups, abs, med ball work, lunges, jumps, hurdle drills – whatever I have available.
Cool-down 10 minutes

1-3x a week, alternate days from the fitness session
Strength
Warm-up 15-20 minutes
Strength I’m focusing on Deadlifts to the knee, Romanian dead Lifts, and Split squats with my back foot elevated. I’m doing 5 sets on these. Then I choose 2 upper body lifts like Incline DB Press and DB rows and try to get a good pump.

I’ll say it once again, I REALLY over estimated how fit I was FOR SPRINTING. it’s such a specific skill and requires such specific strength that if you’re late to it like me, you’ll need to practice a lot of patience and try to let your body adapt to the unique demands.

Best of luck!

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 10, 2012 at 1:53 pm #117873

Hey sebastian,

I’m in a very similar place. All I’ve found that’s going in the right direction for me is to really focus on

1) dropping the pounds – fat don’t fly. Really, honestly, it means for rank novices like us a “super-long” to short (sprints) – start jogging and watching your diet. general strength work like push-ups (press-ups?), sit-ups, chins, dips, lunges, squats, lots of abdominal work , and using a light (3-5kg) medicine ball will help too. To start, frequency (how often you’ll do an activity) matters much more than volume (how much) or intensity (how hard it is on your central nervous system). You’re going for the sensation of feeling hot and flushed. For any of the running, I’d probably cap the volume of any session at 3km – which for sprinters does not have to be a 3km run at a super slow pace, nor should it (search for “Tempo”). If you can run on grass, do so. heck, for GENERAL development, if you’re playing regular soccer games, you may be in good enough cardiovascular condition to work at the sprint position with Hill sprints (find a hill, run up. the incline helps you get into positions you otherwise could not). Elite sprinters are in the 5% body fat range, and I’m shooting for the 9-10% range personally. If you can see your abdominal muscles, then:

2) gaining the strength you need – if it looks right it flies right! I’m really referring to your glute and hamstring development here. your butt extends the hip, which propels you down the track. Lifts like full squats, romanian dead lifts, reverse hypers, deadlifts all help develop these muscles the way you need. again, frequency > volume > intensity. then there’s the special strength that hurdle step over drills, bounding, skipping and jumping develops, which you’ll want to add in gradually from the very start. if condition 1 is met, and you start to look like a sprinter from the waist down (big butt and hamstrings that look like they go up to your ribs) then you can look at the schedules of what US collegiate sprinters do (see the clyde hart or Dan Pfaff pages).
3) consistency – which for you and me is actually more about being ABLE to train than the training itself, which means really focusing on getting good sleep, good food, and paying attention to nagging things that come up.

Speed Reserve (how Absolutely fast you are) is the ultimate determinant of how fast you’ll race. However, it’s not the only determinant and it’s the hardest to influence.

As far as a program goes, what I’ve found is that every time I write something down, life laughs at it. I’d have a plan, but not be afraid to alter or abolish it at any point and start over.

Here’s where I’m restarting myself.

1-3x a week –
Fitness session
Warm-up 15-20 minutes
main running work – really I’m just going for as close to 20 minutes of continuous motion, could be traditional tempo, or hill work or even running in place, but for each rep, I’m limiting myself to 30 seconds before pausing to recover so the quality doesn’t diminish too much.
General Strength 10 minutes of push-ups, abs, med ball work, lunges, jumps, hurdle drills – whatever I have available.
Cool-down 10 minutes

1-3x a week, alternate days from the fitness session
Strength
Warm-up 15-20 minutes
Strength I’m focusing on Deadlifts to the knee, Romanian dead Lifts, and Split squats with my back foot elevated. I’m doing 5 sets on these. Then I choose 2 upper body lifts like Incline DB Press and DB rows and try to get a good pump.

I’ll say it once again, I REALLY over estimated how fit I was FOR SPRINTING. it’s such a specific skill and requires such specific strength that if you’re late to it like me, you’ll need to practice a lot of patience and try to let your body adapt to the unique demands.

Best of luck!

I would agree that IF he has excess weight(He might not) then losing weight COULD help. But…running 3 km for a sprinter isn’t the best idea. It has no direct corelation to the sprintign events and can even make someone slower(Converting fast twitch muscles to slow and confusing energy systems). I would just use lots of tempo and GS circuits, a good diet, and daily walks to drop the pounds.

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 10, 2012 at 2:06 pm #117875

My top few recomendations for a newer sprinter..

1.) Sprint at TOP speed on a reguluar basis- As a newer sprinter, you really need to be working your speed 2-3 times a week as a priority. You need to get used to the mechanics, feel, positions and get your CNS used to the high demands of sprinting. Start shorter, with acceleration type work and slowly build you way up when you feel like you have the mechanics down for a particuluar portion. Really, take your time with it. The progression for speed work would typically look like
Acceleration-Max V-Speed Endurance

2.) Get stronger-As a newer sprinter, your probably not the strong. Or at least by track and field standards. Just by getting stronger you could probably drop huge ammounts of your times. Get in the weight room 2-3x a week and focus on the core lifts(Presses, Squats, Cleanes) and not BB type lifts. You’ll see huge gains from this.

3.)Easy Does It-If you read up on the internet, you’ll probably see alot of programs and the huge ammounts of volumes that some programs have. Don’t do that much. Realize that your newer to this and that it will take time to be able to do large ammounts of work. Listen to your body. If you are doing 8×200@70%, but your legs are trashed after 4, then don’t be affraid to stop their.

4.)Read Up!-Become a studnet of the sport. Just reading through the archives on this sight you’ll learn wonders. The more you know the sport, the better.

5.) Believe in your self!-IF your doing all the work, day in and day out, and all that stuff, none of this will matter if you don’t believe you can do it. Seriously, if you expect to go out there and suck, you will. Keep your head high, and don’t let people bring you down.

[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 10, 2012 at 7:00 pm #117877

Thanks for your answers Zack Trapp and Kapp Gold!

I’m in good shape, I’ve been working out in the gym a couple of years. I’m in the process to change my workout from a bodybuilding-style towards olympic lifting. General strength I have, sprinting specific strength I will build with the core olympic lifting exercises and with some plyometric exercises. So generel strength training including the right nutrition will be the easiest part of all for me.

Hiring a coach is out of the question. Maybe I will participate in some trainings in a local track and field club from time to time. Mainly I will practice on my own.

Keeping it simple sounds good!

I lack more of speed endurance than top speed. Which could maybe lead to a Clyde Hart training program. But all other voices in the internet claim that in general becoming faster needs to concentrate on speed work and gradually extend the running distance including the speed endurance (for example Latif Thomas’ approach). right?

At the moment I literally just want to start running in the right direction and study the sprinting sport at the same time.

[cardinal]

cardinal on September 10, 2012 at 8:42 pm #117878

Thanks for your answers Zack Trapp and Kapp Gold!

I’m in good shape, I’ve been working out in the gym a couple of years. I’m in the process to change my workout from a bodybuilding-style towards olympic lifting. General strength I have, sprinting specific strength I will build with the core olympic lifting exercises and with some plyometric exercises. So generel strength training including the right nutrition will be the easiest part of all for me.

Hiring a coach is out of the question. Maybe I will participate in some trainings in a local track and field club from time to time. Mainly I will practice on my own.

Keeping it simple sounds good!

[b]I lack more of speed endurance than top speed. Which could maybe lead to a Clyde Hart training program. But all other voices in the internet claim that in general becoming faster needs to concentrate on speed work and gradually extend the running distance including the speed endurance (for example Latif Thomas’ approach). right?[/b]

At the moment I literally just want to start running in the right direction and study the sprinting sport at the same time.

two things.

first to clarify my previous post, 3km was a volume ceiling prescription for extensive tempo work (running slower than 75%), so for example 3 sets of 10 reps of 100m.

second, I highlighted that part because what I’ve seen is that the context matters. As you’ve seen you can’t take anyone’s approach off the internet without some customizing for your situation What you’re referring to is short to long programs. Someone has put Charlie Francis Training for Speed up on to scribd, and Charlie is considered the propagator of Short to Long. One of the points he makes is that you should get the easiest gains first from more general means, then get more specific. For instance, if working on your start can get you .2 of a second faster over the first 100m, but speed endurance will take off 3 seconds, take the bigger improvement first.

The other point is that for CF’s athletes they had all the training components in place in one training week – so phases changed due to the emphasis placed on different elements throughout the year, but all elements were to some extent always present. It means his elite athletes had the training time and restoration capabilities to deal with that – which you may not have, and was my point about consistency. I highly suggest closely reading that and then trying to apply it to your situation.

Or better yet, find a coach and buy in to their program.

Knowing your body building background, i might suggest focusing on hill work to start.

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 10, 2012 at 9:51 pm #117879

Thanks for your answers Zack Trapp and Kapp Gold!

I’m in good shape, I’ve been working out in the gym a couple of years. I’m in the process to change my workout from a bodybuilding-style towards olympic lifting. General strength I have, sprinting specific strength I will build with the core olympic lifting exercises and with some plyometric exercises. So generel strength training including the right nutrition will be the easiest part of all for me.

Hiring a coach is out of the question. Maybe I will participate in some trainings in a local track and field club from time to time. Mainly I will practice on my own.

Keeping it simple sounds good!

I lack more of speed endurance than top speed. Which could maybe lead to a Clyde Hart training program. But all other voices in the internet claim that in general becoming faster needs to concentrate on speed work and gradually extend the running distance including the speed endurance (for example Latif Thomas’ approach). right?

At the moment I literally just want to start running in the right direction and study the sprinting sport at the same time.

I totally love the Latiff Thomas approach. If you lack speed endurance, you could still do that type of approach(I’d recomend it). You could do a middle to ends program, which basically starts of at acceleration type work and longer extensive tempo type work and the two sort of meet up at speed endurance and shorter special endurance near the end of the year. It’s great!

[Lee Ness]

Lee Ness on September 10, 2012 at 10:48 pm #117880

Hi folks,

I’m Sebastian from Germany and I’m a beginner in track sprinting.

I started training sprinting 3 weeks ago. So I only had a few sessions on the track. I trained after some workout plan I got from the internet. Just to get the whole sprinting started.

Now that I’m into it I want to start with a proper training program to become the best 200m and 400m sprinter I can become in my age of 26. So I could use some advice and I think you are the right people to help me with your knowledge.

I read all the FAQs on ELITETRACK and some articles and still I’m uncertain how to train to improve my sprinting skills.

For the start I would prefer a full training program to learn the base of sprinting and how my body reacts to the training. With more and more experience I hope I will be able to adapt the training program to my personal needs, strengths and weaknesses.

What is your recommendation for a great basis sprint training program?

Best regards,
Sebastian

Hi Sebastian
In the first instance, you could look at Latif Thomas site on complete track and field. As someone else has suggested, it is a good site and there is a lot of good information on there. There is a good training program on there, fully detailed, for free for a 400m sprinter. I can’t access it from here, but if you can’t find it repost and I will post a link when I get home.
I also post all my training schedule for my sprinters on my website (on the loink on my signature) and you are welcome to look at it and adapt it. Feel free to post questions either here or on there and I will always answer them.

Welcome to sprinting!
Lee

[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 11, 2012 at 12:01 am #117881

I definitely will include up hill and down hill runs into my training program.

So a short-to-long approach like Latif Thomas’ ones is a good start for a newbie like me!?

I found a high school 400m programm on completetrackandfield (posted september 1) but couldn’t register to get access to the information.

I will take a look on your website Lee Ness and surely ask for more help and advice. I’m willing to learn from the knowing. 😉

Buying a full and complete training program on dvd (for example Latif Thomas’ Complete Speed Training 2) could be an option in a few month. First I want to use some free training information and practice a couple of weeks to get an idea of sprinting.

For now I will hit the gym for some squads, deadlifts and presses…Tomorrow is track time. Hope to have kind of a proper plan till tomorrow’s sprinting session.

[Lee Ness]

Lee Ness on September 11, 2012 at 1:26 am #117883

I definitely will include up hill and down hill runs into my training program.

So a short-to-long approach like Latif Thomas’ ones is a good start for a newbie like me!?

I found a high school 400m programm on completetrackandfield (posted september 1) but couldn’t register to get access to the information.

I will take a look on your website Lee Ness and surely ask for more help and advice. I’m willing to learn from the knowing. 😉

Buying a full and complete training program on dvd (for example Latif Thomas’ Complete Speed Training 2) could be an option in a few month. First I want to use some free training information and practice a couple of weeks to get an idea of sprinting.

For now I will hit the gym for some squads, deadlifts and presses…Tomorrow is track time. Hope to have kind of a proper plan till tomorrow’s sprinting session.

Latif’s isn’t quite a short to long, but yes I would start short personally. My programs usually have a mix of both and I think Latif’s is the same.
I wouldn’t buy the full program, as this is mainly aimed at coaches with multiple athletes. If found the link I was looking for so here it is:
https://www.athletesacceleration.com/preseason-training-for-400m-runners-week-11/
Although it says week 11, the links to weeks 1 onward is on that page.

On my site, this years isn’t on there yet as we are in GPP conditioning for the next couple of weeks but next week my first month’s sessions will go on. However, you can have a look at last years details under the sprint training section if you want to get off and running.

Lee

[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 14, 2012 at 4:58 am #117910

Right now I suffer from the top of the foot pain in my right foot (too hard acceleration with the wrong forefoot sprinting technique). So no running in the next time I have enought time to read and study some training programs and approaches and with my new knowledge I will build my own training program. I aim to keep it simple: warm-up, drills, some runs and weight training.

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 14, 2012 at 6:19 am #117911

One more tip: don’t focus too much of the workouts themselves. It’s not as important whether your doing 4x30m or 8x30m..The main focus of sprinting sessions should be proper mechanics.

[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 14, 2012 at 7:39 am #117912

So you recommend to focus on doing drills (and perfect them) for optimal mechanics/technique as a requirement for efficent running!? And not to watch to much on the training volume, right?

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 14, 2012 at 12:37 pm #117913

So you recommend to focus on doing drills (and perfect them) for optimal mechanics/technique as a requirement for efficent running!? And not to watch to much on the training volume, right?

Not as much drills, just the mechanics of your actual sprinting.

[Lee Ness]

Lee Ness on September 14, 2012 at 3:51 pm #117915

[quote author="Sebastian Budde" date="1347588593"]So you recommend to focus on doing drills (and perfect them) for optimal mechanics/technique as a requirement for efficent running!? And not to watch to much on the training volume, right?

Not as much drills, just the mechanics of your actual sprinting.[/quote]

Sebastian

I think what Zack is referring to is what I class as ‘form sprinting’. In some sessions we do drills and work our way into sprinting of about 40-50m at the maximum speed we can without losing sprint form. Depending on the athlete this is usually around 85%. The intention is to hold ‘perfect’ sprint mechanics and the focus is on this. Often I will get them to focus on one aspect such as arm drive or knee lift or whatever on each run. We also do sprinting over micro-hurdles for the first 15m as well sometimes to force the step-over/drive down and keeping the body upright.

Lee

[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 18, 2012 at 7:21 am #117944

Ok, I begin to understand but still I have some questions…:

1) Should I put the training of two different sprinting capabilities into one training day like first do some extensive tempo sprints and after that some speed endurance runs?

2) And what is your recommandation for the absolute training distance (without warm-up and cooldown)?

3) I’m still unsure about the proper shoe-type/spike-type for the training sessions. Any general recommendations?

Best regards,
Sebastian

[Zack Trapp]

Zack Trapp on September 18, 2012 at 9:36 am #117948

Ok, I begin to understand but still I have some questions…:

1) Should I put the training of two different sprinting capabilities into one training day like first do some extensive tempo sprints and after that some speed endurance runs?

2) And what is your recommandation for the absolute training distance (without warm-up and cooldown)?

3) I’m still unsure about the proper shoe-type/spike-type for the training sessions. Any general recommendations?

Best regards,
Sebastian

1.) Usaully not. Training too many diffrent things in one session usaully begins to lessen the training benifits and confuse the energy system. For the example of extensive tempo and speed endurance, you would do almost purely extensive tempo stuff early in the year before moving into intensive and short speed endurance, with a little extensive, before moving into speed endurance and finally special endurance. That is just a standard short to long type progression, but it typically works best with lower training age athletes such as yourself.

2.)Depends on the session and you work capacity. For speed work, don’t focus too much on volume. Focus on getting a good ammount of quality reps. For example, if you planned on doing 8x30m but your technique breaks down after 4x30m, then stop there. Never sacrifice technique for volume. That being said, without knowing your training history, build, work capacity, etc., here are some general recomendations(Always air on the side of caution):
Speed Work:100-400m
Speed Endurance:300-500m
Special Endurance:300m-800m(Don’t Push It)
Extensive Tempo:1000m-2500m
Intensive Tempo:800m-1500m

3.)I wouldn’t focus too much on spikes. Usaully I would just wear normal running type shoes for most of the work, and then wear spikes for track work. Maybe have a pair of spikes for training and one set aside for racing/time trials. A pair of weightlifting shoes wouldn’t hurt.

[Lee Ness]

Lee Ness on September 18, 2012 at 10:38 pm #117955

Hi Sebastian

I agree with Zack on the first point. Don’t mix it.

I don’t really count total distance for workouts. Over time you get a feel for what training volumes work for what sessions, but there are a lot of factors that can affect it. As Zack says quality of workout is everything. You need to know what you want out of it and focus on that.

On the spikes, general recommendation would be not to use them for anyting other than the max speed sessions. I try and limit the use of spikes as much as possible. The best type of shoes for sprint training are the minimalist training shoes as these have much more protection than a spike but not so much that they affect the foot strike. I don’t let my sprinters do any significant distance in spikes.

One other thing to add is that the rest/recovery periods for the sessions between sets and rest are critical. Take great care with this.

[Sebastian Budde]

Sebastian Budde on September 22, 2012 at 10:30 am #117991

Thank you very much guys! I’m delighted you answered my questions and gave me great recommendations.

Tomorrow I will create a training program and post it here. 🙂