Adding Sprints to Your Training

“Hell, yeah…let’s go run a marathon!” isn't something that you’d expect a reader of elitefts™ to say without being overly sarcastic and/or under the influence of illicit drugs. However, most readers know that we need some type of running in our program to stay well rounded and to give us something to do when barbells and power racks aren’t an option. That’s where sprinting comes in. Sprinting gives us a worthy option for a quick and "done anywhere" training session or can be used as an accessory after you’ve already taken care of your main lift.

We’ve all seen the picture comparing the marathoner to the sprinter, and we all know that we'd much rather look like the sprinter. Sprinting is great because it helps keep you lean, preserves muscle, improves coordination, and works both the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems among other things.

So how do we work sprints into our training? Basically, just run. Don’t over think it. But in case that's more mental work than you want to do today, here are a few training options to choose from.

Waves

A wave sprint is simply a sprint where you alternate between two speeds. It can be slow/fast, medium/fast, or slow/medium, depending on how you’re feeling and what you want to get out of the training session.

All you need to do is pick a distance or time and run. Keep these types of sprints between 100 meters and 400 meters in total length. The absolute most that I recommend doing is 800 meters, but those occasions are few and far between and only because it will test you mentally. Staying between 100 meters and 400 meters will ensure that you are focusing on speed and power before aerobic capacity.

Sprint at around 60 percent of your top speed for 20 meters. Then accelerate to 80 percent for 20 meters and then go back down to 60 percent. Do that for a total of 100 meters and then rest and repeat 4–8 more times. You'll have a solid training session done in under 30 minutes.

Work ups

Similar to the wave sprints, you’ll be alternating between two speeds when doing work ups. The difference here is that you’ll take a longer, more gradual approach to the acceleration from 60 percent of your max speed to 80 percent of your max speed.

The recommended distances for this one is the same as waves, but personally, I like to keep it between 100 meters and 200 meters. These can be broken down into a single, longer acceleration phase or up to three separate acceleration phases. Anything longer and you will be taking too much time to work up to 80 percent of your max speed.

If you were doing a 200-meter work up, you would begin by gradually accelerating to 80 percent of your max speed over the first 15–20 meters. From there, you would slow back down to around 60 percent of your max speed for a few meters and then gradually work back up to 80 percent max speed for the next 20 meters. Hold that speed for a few meters and then repeat the whole thing until you’ve ran 200 meters.

Starts

Starts are a great way to build pure speed or to just get the training session over with quickly because you have other stuff to do. They’re high intensity, explosive, and actually pretty damn fun to do.

Ideally, you’ll be using a two-point or three-point stance, so pick a surface where you’re the least likely to slip and bust your face open on the ground. If there isn't any possible way to not slip on whatever surface you have to run on, just use two- or three-approach steps and then explode into a sprint.

For these, you don’t need to go over 60 meters. You’ll stop accelerating after 30 meters anyways, but going to 60 sometimes is a good way to work in some speed endurance training.

Pick a starting point, get into your starting stance of choice, and explode forward, pushing off both feet while staying low and driving forward. For the first few meters, your chest and head should be down (especially if you used a three-point stance). Slowly raise them up until the 10- to 15-meter point where you’ll be straight up.

Tempo sprints

A tempo sprint is a tad bit longer than the others I’ve mentioned and a whole hell of a lot tougher on the legs and mind.

Pick a distance between 300 meters and 800 meters and run the whole thing at a steady pace. You’ll know if you picked a pace that was too fast because you’ll eventually feel like you’re running through wet cement. The mental toughness comes into play around three-quarters of the way through the sprint when you realize it’s taking more effort to stay at a consistent speed.

These aren’t geared as much toward pure speed as they are toward speed endurance and being able to handle a buildup of lactic acid. The most I recommend is 2 x 800 meters with up to eight minutes rest between the sprints. Usually, I recommend 4–6 x 300 meters or 2–4 x 600 meters, both with rest periods of up to eight minutes. These will give you a balance of speed, speed endurance. and even a little bit of aerobic capacity.

For X seconds

Sprinting for X seconds can be done in one of two ways. First, if you have a training partner or someone willing to keep time for you, you can aim for a certain distance in a certain amount of time. An example is sprinting 100 meters in 15 seconds. Just have your timer stand 100 meters away, yell "Go," and give you a countdown from 15. You sprint and try to cross the line before the timer hits zero. If you have a Gymboss or a watch with a timer, you can do this on your own.

The second way is to keep track of how far you can sprint in X seconds. This one does require a partner because you won’t be able to accurately judge exactly where you were at a certain time. To do this, have your timer stand roughly where you think you can make it in whatever time you decide and mark off where you actually are once that time expired. For each sprint after the first one, you’ll be trying to get further and further.

I prefer doing these for distances between 50 meters and 250 meters. The number of sprints done is between 400 meters (8 x 50 meters) and 1000 meters (4 x 250 meters). If you fail to make the predetermined distance or start falling short of your first distance, just end the work out and come back to it during another training session.

Also, set realistic benchmarks. We all want to be able to do a couple 100-meter sprints in eight seconds flat, but we know it won’t happen.

Strides

Strides are just a way of doing the “for X seconds” workout without a watch. Picking a distance and seeing if you can cover in X amount of strides is the easiest way to do it. But if you’re on a beach, you can also pick a number of strides and see how much ground you can cover in that number.

Random tips

Eighty percent training effort is better than 100 percent training effort. Clyde Hart, arguably the best 400-meter coach there is, used this approach to coach Baylor, Jeremy Wariner, and Michael Johnson. If you go at 100 percent all day, ever day, eventually you will burn out. Doing this makes it harder and harder to recover, and sooner rather than later, you won’t be able to train at all. Stick to doing 75–85 percent effort sprints for the majority of your training days and sprinkle in some 85–90 percent sprints every once in a while.

Another great sprint coach, Charlie Francis, recommends two to three days for recovery between 75–85 percent sprints. For efforts of 90 percent and more, he recommends up to ten days of recovery. This wasn’t done because the muscles weren’t recovered. It was for the central nervous system.

Your arms are just as important as your legs when sprinting. Keep your shoulders relaxed and the elbows at 90 degrees, and make sure your hands are swinging from cheek to (ass) cheek. Forcefully driving your elbows back will help you fully extend the leg you’re pushing off from and increase your stride length. This is important to remember when you’re nearing the end of a longer sprint and your legs begin to turn to Jell-O. At that point, don’t focus so much on pushing off with your legs (they won’t respond). Focus on driving your elbows back.

Sprinting is more or less falling forward in a controlled manner. When accelerating, your body needs to have a forward lean to the point that if you were standing still at the same angle, you would fall forward. As you pick up speed, you’ll need less forward lean. Just make sure the transition from extreme forward lean to slight forward lean is gradual.

Some people have been taught that the key to running fast is getting your knees as high as possible when they are in front of you. To put it nicely, this is false. The reason that elite sprinters' knees get high in front of them isn’t because they are pulling them up. It's because they apply so much force into the ground with each foot strike that the knee has no choice but to get that high on the rebound. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Don’t just focus on moving your legs fast. Really focus on putting as much power into the ground as you can.

Your foot needs to make contact directly underneath your body or just slightly behind. Every foot strike that happens in front of the body essentially acts as a brake slowing you down. The further in front of the body it is, the more it slows you down. Make contact directly underneath your hip and use your glutes and hamstrings to fully extend the leg.