Thoughts on Sprints

[angel73bird]

I've been slowly upping my mileage, running every other day or so (and since quitting stretching, I've been feeling better than ever!). I run on a track for which 9 laps equals a mile. I do 6 laps at a jogging pace while breathing through my nose for a warm up, then I hold a running pace up until 18 laps, then I sprint a lap, then walk 2 laps for a cool down.

I've been adding a lap of running every week and I'm thinking about adding more sprints (BF sprinting is SO FUN!). What do you all think? Mostly distance runners, or do any of you incorporate sprinting in your runs? How do you go about adding mileage, and how do you determine how far is far enough? I definitely have energy to run further, but I'm trying to avoid TMTS!

 

[NickW]

I don't really have a set

I don't really have a set system that I follow other than I listen to my body. I do try to sprint the last 1/4 mile of every run, although sometimes I just can't and that's ok. I only run as far as my feet or legs will let me. Usually right now that's a max of 4 or so miles. I usually try to have days where I take it real easy and just focus on form and keeping heartrate low, days where I run what's a long distance for me, and then days where I run faster than normal and where I just push myself to my absolute max and build the fast twitch muscles.

I think the general rule of thumb is you should only increase your runs no more than 10% per week. That being said, I was able to run more than that by listening to my body and stopping when my body told me to. That is hard to do and the one time I didn't listen I hurt myself and was off for two months. I think each person is different in what their body can handle and only you yourself can know exactly what you can do. The problem is people enjoy it so much that they stop listening to their bodies and then hurt themselves.

 

[Paleo]

It's an old rule never to

It's an old rule never to increase more than one of the following at a time: frequency, distance, speed.

Whenever I have violated this rule, I have injured myself. The problem with these injuries is that you'll have a couple of great weeks, then suddenly, bam, you have an injury. Only in retrospect do you realize that it's TMTS. BTW: I do not agree with the 10% rule. I was increasing with just 5% a week and I still ended up with a stress fracture, because I was combining with intervals.

So, be patient. Do one at a time. It's best to increase frequency first, then distance, then speed. Based on your reported distances, I recommend just working on your distance (or frequency of runs) for another 6-10 weeks, then start thinking about speed. You might want to do some easy Accelerations first (see below).

That said, there are lots of different kinds of intervals--and at least double that number in interval philosophies. Here is what I like and do:

1. "Accelerations": these are moderate, and can be combined with increasing frequency ore distance. On a normal run, you slowly increase your speed until you reach about 90% of what you could do. Then you go back to running normally for while. They only last 200 meters. You can do 3-6 of them in a workout. The object of them is technique: i.e. getting your legs and feet used to moving fast. So, concentrate on technique and don't start going faster until you think your technique is good. They are really good early in the season or when new to barefooting. You can do them also like a classic fartlek, i.e. as your mood strikes you. They should be fun, not strenuous.

2. Classic sprints: also 200 meters, but all out. These should be alternated with just short (1-2 min.) jogging pauses. After a good warm up (20 min.), do 10 in a row with pauses, then a warmdown. Then go home. If you did them right, you'll be toast. Definitely give yourself a day of recovery afterwards. Don't increase distance or frequency when doing these. Don't do them more than once a week. I would also avoid them until you have done several weeks of Accelerations, and you are confident that your technique is good.

3. Intervals: usually 1000 meters or about 4-5 min. These should be done at the maximum pace that you can sustain evenly for the whole distance. And, the last interval should be just as fast as the first (if it's not, you went too fast). I do just 3 of these in a session, sometimes with just 4 min. jogging pause in between, sometimes longer, depending on my mood. These will improve your speed for 5km to 1/2 Marathon races. Again, they should not be combined with increasing distance or frequency. Best just once a week. If you notice that your technique is slipping, then shorten the interval or slow them down. There is no sense in training to be fast with bad technique. Go back to the accelerations for a while.

I only do 2 and 3 in the 2-10 weeks before a race.

Listen to your body: if you are not in the mood to do what you have planned, then don't.

Most important, make sure it remains fun.

Best of luck,

Paleo

 

[angel73bird]

Great posts, thanks! I'm glad

Great posts, thanks! I'm glad I can keep checking in here. I know I have a tendency toward TMTS. I'll cut the sprints for a while. I can definitely tell they are harder on my legs than just distance running. Once I get my mileage up there, I'll try Paleo's #3 to get my speed up, because sometimes I feel like a snail on the track compared to all these tiny girls and skinny guys flying past me while I'm running :~

 

[Jonny00GT]

I don't see a problem with

I don't see a problem with working on more than one aspect of running, as long as you listen to your body, rest when you need it and can keep your focus.

I do speed work every Friday at 5am with my local running club. It's a little weird and harder on the feet to run on the black rubber track, behind the school, that we use and it turns my feet black, but it's also seemed to toughen up my feet a little more, too. I only do the sprints once a week and we always do a mile warm up before we start sprints. Here is an example of some of the sessions we've done. (each one includes a mile warm up, light stretching, a 200m recovery between sprints and a half mile cool down at the end and light stretching. I don't stretch and I ramp up my accelleration as I go instead of taking off like a shot. I also coast down to my recovery rather than just stopping at the end.)

10x200

200, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 200

200, 400, 600, 800, 600, 400, 200

Those are just the ones I remember. The club running coach always leads us. It's a blast! I never thought I'd call a mile run a "warm up", much less call anything that lasts 3.5-4.5 miles "speed work"!! I'll admit though, I'm addicted!

Speed work alone will make you faster. You'll feel like you're putting in the same effort after a while, but you'll be going faster. Happened to me! ;o)

What ever you do...make sure you enjoy it!

-Jonny

 

[Paleo]

Since I have committed the

Since I have committed the TMTS sin several times--and suffered the consequences, I just want to pipe in once more on the one thing at a time rule.

I am all in favor of listening to one's body. It will tell you more than a HRM. But, TMTS injuries are the result of cumulative strain AND they usually appear suddenly.

My story or rather my recipe for a stress fracture:

I was training for a marathon. I raised my weekly average from 50km (30mi.) to over 70Km in just 4 weeks (10% rule). After a couple more weeks at 70km, I decided to start some speed work. I did the sprints described in 2. above, i.e. really hard ones, but just once a week. The next week, I also ran my longest ever: 36Km. I then took two days of rest--I was listening to my body, which said one day off was not enough. But, coming home from an easy 10km, I started feeling a sharp pain just above my ankle. A stress fracture, which for a combination of reasons kept me away from running for over 2 years.

Due to the details of my log, I know it was the combination of the distance and the sprints. And I never saw it coming. I was feeling great--often tired--but great. I was running in minimalist shoes, with very good minimalist form (that has hardly changed now that I am 100% barefoot). After the stress fracture occurred, I kept telling my wife, "But, I wasn't increasing too much. And I felt great." Her reply, "well, that might be true, but your leg is telling you right now that it was too much."

After that my Rule #1 has become: No Setbacks. An injury will always set you back more than you benefit from pushing the training too much.

Remember: human beings are not rational animals, we are rationalizing animals. We'll always find a reason for the thing we want to do, even if that thing isn't very smart.

So, please be careful.

Cheers

Paleo

 

[Jonny00GT]

Paleo, I agree with your

Paleo, I agree with your caution and while I don't know the ins and outs of your training, foot covering, form, diet, sleep, mileage, etc that led to your injury, I can say barefoot and shoes of any kind are miles apart! I do my best not to run when I'm sore or tired and I absolutely hate running when I can't FEEL the ground...being sore can make you change your form and no mater how spot on you think you are, shoes do change the game. Worst of all, running in min-shoes, tired and sore while moving up your mileage is like the perfect storm for an injury. This is not my conclusion, but a repeated message I've picked up lurking on this site and reading what the "big-boys" write!

I think some of this is more examples of how everyone is different. It's impossible to put everyone in a box when it comes to shoes, bare feet, "correct" form, proper aclimation and training. I've only been running barefoot since June, but I still hold to the best advice I've ever been given, "Relax and have fun"! Shoes of any kind are not fun to me, any more and I had to focus too hard on my form the one time I've run in my Vibrams since June.(The track was wet and my feet wouldn't warm up, so I put my Vibrams on for part of speed work. I strained my calf cause I ran totally different! ( ) Running sore, is not fun to me, so if I warm up and I still feel pain, sore or tight and I can't rub it out, I don't run. Running when I'm already tired is not fun to me and I find myself landing on my heel, loosing the bend in my knees, my focus and my usual soft quiet landing gets loud and painful. This is what I've learned from listening to my body and I plan accordingly.

Just my 2 cents.

-Jonny

 

[angel73bird]

Yeah, I've been off for three

Yeah, I've been off for three days with probably anoter day or two yet to go My right knee is feeling "weird". So I'm just playing it safe. I love sprinting, but I guess it's going to have to wait for quite a while, because I'm still super new to running :/

 

[Stig Walsh]

Paleo wrote:Whenever I have

Whenever I have violated this rule, I have injured myself. The problem with these injuries is that you'll have a couple of great weeks, then suddenly, bam, you have an injury. Only in retrospect do you realize that it's TMTS. BTW: I do not agree with the 10% rule. I was increasing with just 5% a week and I still ended up with a stress fracture, because I was combining with intervals.

Ha - same here, although in terms of actual running injuries this is the first I've had. I've been increasing distance/time and adding in sprints over the last few months, and I'm pretty sure I now have a stress fracture as a result of the sprinting. Totally my own fault; had I not been wearing VFFs I wouldn't have pushed it so hard. The adage about 'if something seems too good to be true, it usually is' has never been truer, and my were things going well!

I'll be laying off the running (I'll not be wearing shoes though) for a few months and see how things go. There's no way I'll go to a doctor to add to the anti-BFR stats. After all, even if it were to be something other than a stress fracture, cures for any of the alternative maladies involve letting the body deal with the problem itself.

I'll be more careful when I'm back on the streets.

 

[Abide]

Good advice as always

Good advice as always Paleo!

With sprints I would also recommend building up to a number of sets, such as the first week do 4 x 100m, then 5 x 100m the following week.

And 10 x 200m and a jogging rest? You guys are crazy!

 

[Jonny00GT]

Today was a mile warm up and

Today was a mile warm up and 8x400 with 200 recovery between with an 800 cool down. It was in the 30s and 3/4 of a mile into the warm up, my feet were still really cold, thanks to the wind. I decided to run in my VFFs.

The most important thing I can relay when it comes to mixing it up (hills, speed work, fartlek, etc) is your form should remain the same. Just because you run faster, does not mean you should go up on your toes...you WILL tear up your feet, push off, over extend, pound the hell out of your soles and pay the price. Keep your form focused, your body loose and always have fun with it while listening to your body. If you can do that, I think you'll be fine. I'm 230lbs...if I can do it without breaking something, anyone can!

-Jonny

 

[Paleo]

Very sorry to hear about the

Very sorry to hear about the possible stress fracture, Stig. (But, since you can only know with an x-ray in a couple of weeks, maybe you be lucky.)

Angelbird, since you are new to running, try the accelerations first. Keep them gentle and fun. As long as you are holding your form, you can try going faster. But, still I would stick to once a week.

As we have all read in the McDougall book: easy-light-smooth-fast, and the fast comes automatically once the other three are mastered.

And, Jonny, I do agree with you that the most important thing is to keep it relaxed.

Cheers

Paleo