16-Apr-2021      By Travis Geopfert

Basic sprint training philosophy: How to create an organized and efficient plan for the high school setting.

Basic sprint training philosophy:  How to create an organized and efficient plan for the high school setting. 

 

There are five areas of emphasis (components) in five different phases.

The areas of emphasis are:  Strength, Technique, Speed-strength (speed-endurance), Speed-speed, and Rest. 

The coach must prioritize the areas of emphasis depending upon what part of the season they are in. 

In this design we are going to break the season up into five different phases. 

For simplicity purposes we are going to take an average 10 week high school season and break it into five-two week phases.  If you have a twelve week season you can add a week to each of the first two phases. 

There are two main elements in sprint training, INTENSITY and VOLUME. 

INTENSITY is based on what percentage you are running compared to your personal max.  In this design we will use a pace chart based off of the athlete’s personal 200 or 400 meter max. 

VOLUME is measured by using a percentage of the largest distance you want to use in a particular workout.  In this design we will use an 1800 meter max.

Intensity and volume are inversely related starting with low intensity and high volume, then progressing to high intensity and low volume. 

 

 

 

 

Phase I-  Intensity 60%  Volume 90%    Volume Range- LS= 1400-1800Meters  SS= 1100-1500Meters

Strength-             

Fartlek Runs-  LS- 1:30/1:00/30sec ON  w/ 1min. OFF     SS-  30sec ON 1min. OFF for 10-15min.

Hills- LS- 2x(4x200) w/ walk down and 4 min. rest.  SS- 2x(4x150) same rest, preferably on grass. 

Core Strength-  Med ball, abdominals, push-ups, etc. 

Low intensity plyometrics- 3x30 ankle hops, 3x10 tuck jumps, 3x10 squat jumps.

 

Technique-   

Sprint drills- A march, A skip, Rotary running.  Knee up, heel up, toe up. 

Position starts- 10-30 meter accelerations from start position.  Remember accelerating is part of technique. Looking at displacement, frequency, body position and angles. 

Hurdle Drills-  Wall drills, walk-overs, skip drills, side step, quick step.

Rythym runs- For jumper- easy rythym approaches counting their steps. 

 

Speed-strength-      

Track workouts- 60%  LS 3x(3x200)   SS  2x(3x200)  w/ 1min. And 6 min. rest.

 

Speed-speed- 

Short hills 3x(4x60) walk down and 4 min. Rotary running. Position starts.

 

Rest-                1 day off, 1 day active recovery. 

 

EXAMPLE WORKOUTS FOR PHASE I

 

Sunday	Day off	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Day off	Core Strength Sprint Drills Interval work. LS 8x300 decreasing rest. SS 8x200 decreasing rest.	Core Strength Sprint Drills Acceleration Models.  Standing accel series. 10 meter pushes. Bounding A.	Core strength Sprint Drills Workout- 60% LS=8x200 SS=6x200 Rest=2-3 min.	Core Strength MB Cone sprint drills. 3x6 med ball- overhead back, chest pass, lunge toss, forward side, walking slams. 1 x Bounding A.	Core Strength Sprint Drills Hills-  LS 8x150m hills SS=6x100m hills Rest= walk down and 3-5 min.	Shakeout / Mobility and warm up routine.

 

 

 

 

Phase II-  Intensity 70%  Volume 80%    Volume Range- LS= 1200-1600Meters  SS= 900-1300Meters

 

 

Technique-   

During this phase break up into technical groups.  Sprint drills and work on phases of sprint races.  Abundance of hurdle drills and 5 step hurdling.  Jump drills and full approach work separated. 

 

Speed-strength-      

Track workouts- 70%  3x(2x250)   SS  3x(2x150) w/ 1min. And 6 min. rest.

Speed-speed- 

Sprint/plyo circuits.  Variable speed training.  Bounding. 

 

Rest-               

1 day off, 1 day active recovery.  1 easy bounding day. 

 

Strength-             

Hurdles- down and backs.  Hip strength and flexibility.  Weight room work may still be difficult in this phase.  Core Strength-  Med ball, abdominals, bounding is also strength. 

 

EXAMPLE WORKOUTS PHASE II

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Rest  Day.	Drills- 70% LS= 2x(300,200,100) 3,2,&6 min. rest SS=3(200+100) 1& 6 min. rest	Drills- Technical Day Specialty work Accel work. Acceleration B. Hurdle work. Approach work.	Drills- Workout- 70% LS=2x(2x300) Rest 2&7 min. SS=3x(2x150) Rest 1&5 min.	Drills- LS= 6x150 Variable speed 50/50/50 1 x bounding A. SS= 6x90 30/30/30 80%/70%/90% 2 x bounding A	Drills- sprint/hurd./jump 4-5 sets of 10 tuck jumps+30m sprint+10 squat jumps+60 m fly. 4-5 min. rest Possible Hills.	Possilble Med Ball day.   Mobility / Active Recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phase III-  Intensity 80%  Volume 70%    Volume Range- LS= 1000-1400Meters  SS= 700-1100Meters

 

Speed-strength- 

This is probably the beginning of your track and field season.  This is the to race above normal distance and these are typically the most difficult workouts.  Everybody runs 4x400.  Example workouts would include.  At 80%  LS=3x(2x200)  SS=3x(3x100) w/ 1 min. and 6 min. rest.

Speed-speed- 

At this point the athletes should feel ready for full speed block starts, hurdling, and full speed approach work.  Full speed exchanges may be incorporated at this time.

Rest-               

2-3 days of active rest.  Easy shakeouts. 

Strength-             

Weight room is backing down and most true strength work is done at this point.

Technique-

At this point you should still be doing daily drills and working on perfecting technique in practice at a higher pace.  Much of the technique work done here is during competition.  Learn how your athletes competes and pick up on different cues that work for them.

 

 

EXAMPLE WORKOUTS PHASE III

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Rest day	Block Starts Hurdle starts Approach work Exchanges	LS=500/400/300 @ 80% 6 &5 min. rest SS= 3(200+100) 80% and fast.  1 & 6 min. rest.	Active rest day Drills	Relay Exchanges   Block starts.	Pre-meet shakeout Easy 4x4 exchanges.	Compete over normal distance Everybody runs 4x400

 

 

 

 

Phase IV-  Intensity 90%  Volume 60%    Volume Range- LS= 800-1200Meters  SS= 500-900Meters

 

Speed-speed- 

Athletes should be competing in their specialized events, and as a coach it’s time to figure out your best relays squads and run them together.  Overspeed.  Speed workouts. 30’s, 60’s 150’s.  Relay exchanges.  Approach work. 

 

Rest-               

You should probably have 3 active shakeout days at this point. 

 

Strength-             

Weight room is maintenance now.  But strength workouts can be done on the track through slight overdistance/underspeed training.  Example long sprinters:  450+150 coming through 400 4 seconds slower than p.r. 

 

Technique-   

Fine tune and perfect technique at high velocities.  Movements should have been repeated enough at slower speeds.  They should now be able to do same movements effectively at higher speeds. 

 

Speed-strength-      

Do not kill off your athletes by hammering them with hard workouts at this point.  There is a lot of quality track work done in the meets themselves. 

 

 

 

 

 

EXAMPLE WORKOUTS PHASE IV

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Shakeout	Starts Hurdles Approaches Exchanges Technical Work	Compete in normal events. If no meet. LS=2x(3x150) SS=3x(80/60/40) 3 & 5 min. rest	Shakeout Easy  technical work	LS= 1x(450+150)@ 90% and smooth SS= 1x(250+150) 90 seconds rest.	Pre-meet shakeout	Compete

 

 

Phase V (PEAK )-  Intensity 75%-85%  Volume 50%   Successful workouts!

 

Rest-         

Less is MORE!

 

Strength-  

Weight room is short and sweet.  Feel good workouts, light and explosive. 

 

Technique-

Positive, Positive, Positive……..

 

Speed-strength-

Don’t race twice a week.  No need for killer workouts. 

 

Speed-speed-  

Listen to your gut,  it’s too late to make gains, be smart and keep them healthy. 

 

 

 

 

 

EXAMPLE WORKOUTS PEAK CYCLE

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	Exchanges Starts Hurdles Approaches Technical work	2x(300+150) 70% & 80% 1 min. and 10 min. rest. SS= 2x(2x150) 70% & 80% 2 min. and 6 min. rest.  Flats then spikes	Easy Technical day. Can do exchanges or starts. A couple approaches	Pre-meet	State Meet	State Meet

 

 

 

In conclusion we fully recognize there are a number of different philosophies in creating training cycles.   This is our basic philosophy at Trackwired that has helped us over the years.  It’s not perfect and we are always striving to learn and get better at our craft.  Not only for ourselves but to help spread some knowledge for the sport we love.  Our workouts and technical videos can help you in developing a plan for your athletes as well.  Feel free to check out our on line store, type in a goal time and Trackwired will create an entire training plan for you! There will be specific workout times in the training that reflect the goal time that you entered.  Don’t know what a drill is, just click on the 30 second video and you can see it for yourself.  “Failing to plan, is planning to fail”, Benjamin Franklin.  We want to make planning easy!!