Speed work for old men

I'm not sure based on the little you've offered.

I was 35 years old and could run 200m from a standing start in jogging shoes in 25 flat.

Then I would run it again. And again. All in the same workout.

Sub 30 should feel easy, and you are not old enough to have lost so much speed, unless you never really had any.

Your post indicates you are a serious runner and your running paces are good.

1. 20 x 100m on grass football field. Run up one side, jog slowly to the other side and run down.

1st 4: very fast steps.

5-6: very high leg lift (don't do high knee drills, that shortens the muscle more than it lifts the thigh)

7-10: bound, getting a really good jump.

11-20: Run at 2-mile pace, using the better mechanics.

2. 10 x 100m on grass football field

bound and skip drill, but really jump high and forward.

3. 32 x 100m on grass football field

1st 10: at 2-mile pace

Next 4: mile pace

Next 4: 400m pace

Next 4: 800m pace

Last 10: 5k pace

I just did this a couple of days ago, but I combined 1,2, and 3 for 62 x 100m. The last 10 were very fast, close to mile pace or even 800m pace.

Adding these drills to your regular routine--assuming you lift weights and do core work--will help strengthen your ligaments, tendons, and muscles to improve your stride mechanics.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks, maybe 3-4, you are comfortable running 32 sec for 200m instead of 35 sec.

37 is an old man?! Sigh.

I'd do some real speed work first. 4x60 kind of stuff. Search for threads where poster V or V something (?) detailed the workouts. I have them bookmarked on another computer. Best info on this site.

I'd not be expecting to get to easy 25 like the other guy. But speed first, then speed endurance.

You should (and will need to) improve. If 16 is really in the cards that is. I had lost a ton of speed by my mid 20s (same weight, active, just no longer racing 800s in my case). Sad!

If you think you are old with almost 37 you should quite running and relax on your couch.

Which such a mental attitude you will go nowhere.

Old-ish wrote:

I'd do some real speed work first. 4x60 kind of stuff. Search for threads where poster V or V something (?) detailed the workouts. I have them bookmarked on another computer. Best info on this site.

I'd not be expecting to get to easy 25 like the other guy. But speed first, then speed endurance.

You should (and will need to) improve. If 16 is really in the cards that is. I had lost a ton of speed by my mid 20s (same weight, active, just no longer racing 800s in my case). Sad!

Link it up, please!

This is less of a "here's what you should do" and more of a "here's what I'm planning to try." For reference, I'm a bit older than you (45), and I've never had good speed (not sure whether I ever broke 30 for 200, if so not by much), but I feel like it has become much more of a critical limitation in recent years, and I've also had a series of injuries that make me question whether I'm ready to take on actual speed/sprint work at the moment.

I'm planning to work on:

Running fairly short, steep hills, not running hard but trying to run with good form and a little pop and spring (100m or thereabouts)

Strides on fairly short, moderately steep hills (50-100m)

Sprints on very short, steep to moderately steep hills (30-50m)

Long strides/short repeats on somewhat longer, more moderate hills (150-200m, maybe progressively longer, but then we're starting to get out of the speed conversation)

So, the general idea is to work on strength, then power, then more intensive power and neuromuscular recruitment, then speed, using the hills to increase resistance and decrease impact. The plan is to approach this progression more as a matter of adding things into the mix than strictly progressing from one step to the next.

I will probably also do some strides/short pickups on the flat along the way. (And I really should do some lifting but I've never been very good about that, to be honest.)

First I will say do lots of hills, because there's always someone who says that, and maybe it would work, who knows. With any luck some hill fanatics will show up and make this thread go a few pages.

Second I will say if you can't run a 35 second 200, even short sprints aren't likely to fix it. Surely your top sprint speed is faster than that. Usual suspect for a distance runner slow at middle distance is form. What's efficient at distance isn't so efficient at middle distance. And what's fast in a short sprint still isn't efficient at middle distance.

Beyond what others have said;

Steep hill sprints 6-30 seconds.

Strides after easy runs progressively faster

If you've run a 4:54 mile recently, you've still got some speed, but sometimes distance runners get bogged down with too much mileage. It's easy to lose the pop in your step when constantly jogging 10 miles a day. The legs just feel dead from the constant pounding. Some masters runners work backward and work speed first and add mileage later, keeping speed workouts throughout a training block.

I love blowing by you crusty old turds on the road. Go get a job or something. Nobody is impressed by you old grumpy turds trying to recapture your youth. Admit you’re bald, slow, can’t get it up, and girls never look at you anymore. Buy a bike and be a grouchy old triathlete wannabe. And lift your damn legs when you run! Why do you old slow guys shuffle ?? Do some stretching and drop the gut, pops.

beat it old man wrote:

I love blowing .

You don’t say?

Do some real sprint drills (correctly) and deadlift a few times a week.

LOL, every time I open these I think it's going to be "so I'm 87 years old and... creak creak creak" and it's some dude saying he's in his 30s! DAWG, get real.

its so cold brr wrote:

LOL, every time I open these I think it's going to be "so I'm 87 years old and... creak creak creak" and it's some dude saying he's in his 30s! DAWG, get real.

Amen to that.