I am not fast. About 15-16 sec for 100m. My goal is to improve times in middle and long distance. Is it possible to increase your speed without sprinting sessions in your training?
I can lift, do long distance speed work (intervals), strides etc. However I don’t want to sprint 100% because I have bad experience with it mostly hamstring strains.
Short hills with complete recovery and 150s at 400m race pace with plenty of rest.
The safest max V work is to do flying 40s on turf.
Build up smoothly over 20-30 yards, then fly at max V for 40 as relaxed as possible. Do 6-8 with 5-8 minutes recovery.
Most of the injuries come from acceleration or hard surface.
However I don’t want to sprint 100% because I have bad experience with it mostly hamstring strains.
your training should not be geared around ignoring or avoiding this weakness. you need to do some remedial therapy for your hamstrings.
those exercises you do when your hamstrings are injured, you need to do those BEFORE you get injured to help prevent injury in the first place.
1. work your way through the exercises I link to below. the link calls them glute activation exercises, but they are an essential precursor to healthy hamstrings. start with the basic glute bridge, do around 4 - 6 reps to start with and build up, slowly and gradually.
2. include deadlifts in your weights routine. start with the bar at a very low weight, 15kg is fine, and concentrate on excellent technique. for hamstring work you do not need to deadlift more than around half your own bodyweight, but you should build up, gradually, and slowly, to doing a couple of sets of 10 - 12 reps.
3. concentrate on the "build up slowly and gradually" aspect of what I said. do not increase your training just because you completed the set exercises. make haste slowly. Rome was not built in a day.
https://redefiningstrength.com/glute-activation-15-glute-bridge-variations-and-2-activation-series/Long runs @ prudently increased paces will recruit fast twitch muscle fibers and enhance sprint speed. I'm not talking LSD stuff where you plod along for 2 hours with nothing to show for it but sore feet. Long runs @ medium, but tolerable paces that are cautiously increased based on fitness. In this regard, you can run relatively slow to run fast. Worked for me.
Iiigvfdd wrote:
However I don’t want to sprint 100% because I have bad experience with it mostly hamstring strains.
You need to strengthen your hamstring through heavy weight training. Two-three times a week do the following:
Back or front squats
deadlifts
chin ups or barbell rows
dips or overhead press
And maybe add some stiff leg deadlifts or hyperextensions to add more strength to your hamstrings.
One more thing, pause on your reps, do not cheat/bounce the bar. This will ensure you develop maximum strength/explosiveness.
100mpw