Hi, would doing 8x40 seconds very steep hill sprints/95%effort with 2 minutes recovery be a good workout to develop a kick at the end of race?
Or is there better workouts to develop a kick?
Hi, would doing 8x40 seconds very steep hill sprints/95%effort with 2 minutes recovery be a good workout to develop a kick at the end of race?
Or is there better workouts to develop a kick?
I don't know how someone could run 95% effort and only need 2 minutes of recovery. But hills will give you power and 8 X 40 seconds of them will help your endurance at race speed.
Thanks for the response maybe I will extend the recovery haha
Just really want to have a killer kick as most races these days are sit and kick
I don't believe it's possible to improve your top-end speed by a significant amount. It really comes down to how much you have left at the end of a race. Virin didn't have better 400 speed than Yifter in 1972 or Dixon and Quax in 1976, but he still won.
If you have faster PR's than the than the guys who have been out kicking you the best strategy for you would be to push the pace enough so that you have more left than they do. If they have better PR's there is not much you can do about it.
This is a novice's or sprinter's mentality. A kick is developed from having the most strength or endurance. So the best thing that you can do is to add mileage, even if it slow mileage.
I remember seein a WOW with Ben Sarel after he closed the Arcadia 3200 in 55 seconds. The question was something to the effect of, "what training do you do to get that kick, lots of sprints?" His answer was something to the effect of, "I do a lot of 1200s and as a result I just had a lot of energy left for the last lap and was able to use most of my max speed, I'm really not that fast at 400".
The workout you are describing is something similar to what my high school team used to do on a regular basis. It didn't help me kick at all and I don't remember any of my teammates being devastating kickers. The workout you described has its place, but I don't think it will do much to help your kick. The keys to kicking, in this order
1. The fitness to get to the end of the race and still have enough energy left to kick
2. Mental toughness
3. Speed endurance
4. Max speed.
You can do a little bit of work for #4 on a year round basis, especially in the off season. The workout you described would help with #3 but wouldn't do a lot to address #1 or #2.
Get fit, do a little max speed, and every once in a while, finish a workout with something really fast.