Quality Sprint Times (100/200/400) w/ high mileage: how to train?

Depends how fast you would want to run in all of the events.

What is high mileage here and what is a quality sprint time?

You have 800 guys like Solomon, Jock, Borzakivskiy running 46 flat or just under it, and guys like Coe running 46-high and 2X Olympic champ at 1500. But they're not running 10Ks.

The training to go 12-13-point is very different from running 11 flat or faster. You pretty much can't run ANY mileage and sprint at a high level--at the same time. You CAN run XC in the fall and sprint in the sprint--not optimal for sprinting but plenty of high school guys do that. You can also do something like 10X100 with 3-5 min rest, and plenty of milers do that: You will get some sprint performance and your distance races might be faster.

I have been running distance for several years since HS ( locally/regionally competitive; ~16:00 5k; ~45 mpw) and have seen my sprinting suffer as a result. My only season, I could run 100m FAT out of blocks in 12.0 as a 15 year old. Now I can't even "truly sprint", if you know what I mean. I am still just 21, and want to be able to run fast again before I get too old. Distance running though is one of my true passions. How could I train to get near my old times without giving up distance?

1x a week of max speed (i.e. 8x30m, full rest)

2x a week of speed endurance (i.e. 4x250m@400m pace)

1x a week of plyos

1x a week of longer tempo (10x90 seconds on, 60 off, 75% intensity)

1x a week of 25 minute run

2-3x a week of resistance training

Sprinster wrote:

1x a week of max speed (i.e. 8x30m, full rest)

2x a week of speed endurance (i.e. 4x250m@400m pace)

1x a week of plyos

1x a week of longer tempo (10x90 seconds on, 60 off, 75% intensity)

1x a week of 25 minute run

2-3x a week of resistance training

So, there is going to be some overlap with the plyos and resistance training. What days do you reccommend doing these on? Also, by resistance training should you lift low rep/heavy? Thanks

Distance running reduces leg strength/power, and that is one thing you need to accelerate strong enough to reach a high enough max velocity. So one thing to do is weights and/or plyos. A combination of weights and plyos (not both on the same day) works better than either separately.

For sprinting, you really need 2 things on the track:

(1) You need to accelerate strong and long enough to reach a high enough top speed. You run out of CPK energy stored in muscles at around 7 seconds and you start using lactate-producing sources (slower) after that point, so one key is accelerations of not 50 or 60 meters, but 4-8 seconds, and rest of about 1 minute per 10 meters run.

(2) You need to be able to produce ATP at a high enough rate to allow speed to be trained. ATP production tops out at ~15 seconds, so you want to do some longer runs of this lingth. I'm talking about 120s or so, not 300-800 meters.

Sosuke Aizen Sama wrote:

Sprinster wrote:

1x a week of max speed (i.e. 8x30m, full rest)

2x a week of speed endurance (i.e. 4x250m@400m pace)

1x a week of plyos

1x a week of longer tempo (10x90 seconds on, 60 off, 75% intensity)

1x a week of 25 minute run

2-3x a week of resistance training

So, there is going to be some overlap with the plyos and resistance training. What days do you reccommend doing these on? Also, by resistance training should you lift low rep/heavy? Thanks

Ignore that whole post. He doesn't know what he's talking about:

30m is NOT max speed unless following a 30-40m acceleration to speed, which is known as a flying start. 30m without a flying start is acceleration power.

Speed endurance for pure sprinters (100m here) is 8-15 seconds in length. 250m is special endurance, which results in a high lactate load that WILL reduce the distance running you can do, and someone who is primarily a distance runner doesn't need that.

No sprinter with a brain does anything like 10X90 seconds. Extensive tempo for sprinters would be something like 10X100 or 10X200 at 70% speed with walking half the distance run for recovery.

A 25 minute run is something 400 meter runners do in the fall. For someone running 45mpw, even talking about this is ridiculous.

My basic desire is to move my focus from 5k/10k down to 800/1500/3k, but I REALLY want to get the leg speed to cover 100-400 fast again. If I did a base phase this summer of just mileage with short sprint work and plyos thrown on top, would this be practical?

I was thinking of doing this for a 2-week cycle:

1 speed max vel. Fly 30s

2 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 16x100m

3 speed accel. Wind sprints w/ varied starts

4 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 6x400m

5 speed endurance 80-150

6 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 10x200m

7 rest

8 speed max velo.

9 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 16x100m

10 speed accel.

11 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 400m

12 speed endurance 80-150

13 rest

14 rest

Coach D: for someone with an aerobic base background, and wanting to improve times across the board and not "specialize" per se, could tempos, VO2 max, and other aerobic work replace special endurance, intensive tempo and extensive tempo? As in, for someone in my situation and having my desires, would aerobic work plus speed (both max velocity and acceleration) and short speed endurance (80-150m) suffice? Just replace all aerobic "workouts" like intervals, etc. with short sprint work?

Also, what do you think about guys like yuriy? He was able to become faster at short sprints while also building a strong aerobic foundation. In an article, his coach said this:

"Yura ran 60m in 5.85, 150m in 15.97. Last year, with a flying start, he ran 100m in 10.3"

He also mentions having him do extensive core work daily, and plyos for the lion's share of his strength training, apparently mostly single leg hops for lower body power and ball tosses for upper body power.

Longslowsprinter wrote:

My basic desire is to move my focus from 5k/10k down to 800/1500/3k, but I REALLY want to get the leg speed to cover 100-400 fast again. If I did a base phase this summer of just mileage with short sprint work and plyos thrown on top, would this be practical?

I was thinking of doing this for a 2-week cycle:

1 speed max vel. Fly 30s

2 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 16x100m

3 speed accel. Wind sprints w/ varied starts

4 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 6x400m

5 speed endurance 80-150

6 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 10x200m

7 rest

8 speed max velo.

9 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 16x100m

10 speed accel.

11 aerobic capacity; ext. tempo 400m

12 speed endurance 80-150

13 rest

14 rest

Plyos? Fly weights?

Bump

what about short hill work, would it produce the same results?

I would do somethning like this:

Speed

Anaerobic endurance

Strenght

Aerobic endurance

Endurance

Have some easy days in between. This is not for 100 meters, but might be good at 400 meters and up