Taking a year off distance to sprint

You are wasting your time. Work on your speed while doing distance training. You will get faster with sprint training but as soon as you stop, you will end up in the same spot.

It's true. You'll lose your endurance and try to get it back

Really? Isn't that the point of going through periods of specific training though?

I feel like I've heard plenty of times, especially on this board, that previous levels of performance our easier to get back to than when first achieving them

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Pick a distance a level below where you have been, i.e. 400/800 if you have been mile/3K, then train appropriate to THAT distance, which will overlap 30-60% with your previous training, but then ADD on a new level of speed. Jumping from mile to 200 is a waste of a season/year unless you are unexpectedly talented as a sprinter (probably not the case).

Learn to BUILD your training, not jumping around like a headless cricket.

That's the reason I want to spend time developing my speed. My ACTUAL speed, not something that is sharpening or peaking. I want to spend some time increasing the strength and skill of my raw speed, not increasing the stamina for speeds already achieved, but to push past thresholds for how fast I can go, and that is going to take some more focus than doing some strides or flying 30s during normal training.

No this is not a good idea if your goal is mid-distance performance. But you sound like you want to do it anyway and are just fishing for someone to tell you it's a good idea, so go head.

I mean my question initially was in terms of how to do, not what to do. But so far I have gotten "don't do it because I said so" with no sound reasoning behind why

Twenty2 wrote:

I mean my question initially was in terms of how to do, not what to do. But so far I have gotten "don't do it because I said so" with no sound reasoning behind why

OK so you do a year sprinting and you get faster (though it looks like you will be self training so you won't be taught how to run fast and you will be limited by your technique), even if you get coached, eventually you will run faster overwriting all your years of distance running, your stamina will then plummet as you develop your fast twitch fibres and your slow twitch fibres will waste away.

Then after your year doing sprints you will go back to distance running, oh no! Your slow twitch fibres are underdeveloped! Suddenly you are struggling to do the distances you did before your year out, so you focus more on your stamina ,building up your slow twitch fibres and letting your fast twitch fibres waste away, and then you are back to where you were before but instead you wasted a year and a half with this silly experiment.

Being able to sprint really fast also doesn't convert to having good speed for a mid-d runner. Sprinting form is different - If Kiprop ran with Bolt's technique maybe his top end speed would be better but he would be a worse miler. Your body composition and type and muscle mass will also all change. These things will make you a better sprinter but a worse distance runner.

Work on speed with your distance training. I am a 3:44 15 runner and think I could probably run around around 12.0-12.1 hundred, but I can guarantee I'd out kick an 11.5 guy at the end of a 1500 no matter what pace we had been running.

U Asked For It wrote:

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Pick a distance a level below where you have been, i.e. 400/800 if you have been mile/3K, then train appropriate to THAT distance, which will overlap 30-60% with your previous training, but then ADD on a new level of speed. Jumping from mile to 200 is a waste of a season/year unless you are unexpectedly talented as a sprinter (probably not the case).

Learn to BUILD your training, not jumping around like a headless cricket.

That's kind of the plan, I was going to do 400 for a training cycle, then 800, then 1500. However I don't know how to do 400 training and I've heard some of the most recommended programs like Clyde Hart are for guys who are already fast who just need to develop the stamina. Which I don't think is me.

So I guess all I am really asking for is a "short to long" 400 training plan rather than a "long to short" or "ends to middle"

Twenty2 wrote:

I mean my question initially was in terms of how to do, not what to do. But so far I have gotten "don't do it because I said so" with no sound reasoning behind why

The "sound reasoning" behind the replies are from distance runners who are looking at what you want to do from the perspective of ultimately improving your distance running. If ALL you're interested in is being a sprinter for a year you should find a sprint coach or at least a really knowledgeable "all events" coach.

Twenty2 wrote:

{I mean my question initially was in terms of how to do, not what to do. But so far I have gotten "don't do it because I said so" with no sound reasoning behind why}

HRE wrote:

{The "sound reasoning" behind the replies are from distance runners who are looking at what you want to do from the perspective of ultimately improving your distance running. If ALL you're interested in is being a sprinter for a year you should find a sprint coach or at least a really knowledgeable "all events" coach.}

Sebastian Coe improved his 400 from 49.9 down to 46.6 while training for distance running in just a few years. Jim Ryun also knocked down his 440 to 47 seconds by doing lots of hard interval training and sprints, a long with his usual distance training.

Arthur Lydiard's pupils were known for their ability to improve their sprinting while including a 22 mile run every week and during 120 miles per week of running.

If you check the very first thread on Let's Run and select the first "post" the Tinman who coaches sub 4 minute high schooler Drew Hunter, backs up all of what I said above and gives you the science behind it.

You can spend a year being a sprinter and recover from it.

However you have a lot to learn about running. A good sprint coach can teach you a lot. But you will still have to read and learn from the best about all areas of running and life in general.

Being a good runner of any type...takes years and you have to work with what you have. You cannot get Orange Juice out of an Apple. But as noted above you can improve. ***Without a doubt you can improve your basic speed sooner as a distance runner than as a sprinter!!!

Sorry man but I agree with others about losing alot to gain a little. Ultimately it's up to you and wish you the best. another thing is it takes years to develop endurance and one should expect the same to peak with sprinting. GL

U Asked For It wrote:

Jumping from mile to 200 is a waste of a season/year unless you are unexpectedly talented as a sprinter (probably not the case).

What are the chances he may be as talented or more talented as a sprinter than a middle distance runner? Whose to say without knowing the guy - even him if he hasn't tried? Or are we just assuming that most letsrunners are slow white guys?

Unless you are in the top 1% genetically predisposed for fast-twitch, you will accomplish little as a sprinter. From grade school, various sports activities select out these outliers to perform in explosive/power/speed sports. Distance runners in High School are the left overs form the screening process for speed and power. The chances of him being gifted for sprinting competition or training is 0.001%. Switching dramatically without first hand guidance is asking for serious muscle injury and at the least, a lot of frustration, while losing aerobic development the whole time.

Of course, since he has provided us with NO backround info, we can only make guesses as to his situation. Entitled brats ask with giving anything in return.