This text is a continuation of the article Sprints as training support for long-distance running training
Especially at the beginning of training, it is a good idea to start by running sprints at 90% of your ability, so that at the expense of speed you can focus on implementing the correct form of sprinting. This will give us a good technical foundation for correct running and avoid a lot of trouble later in training. If we do not do it, mistakes will accumulate and their effects reproduced from training will consolidate a bad movement pattern. On the other hand, if we improve our technique, it will later allow us to progress more easily to longer and faster workouts, not to mention minimising the risk of a possible injury.
A common mistake when doing sprints is to concentrate too much on putting as much force as possible into the run to make it feel like a very difficult run. However, it is not quite the case that the best sprint is simply the greatest difficulty and maximum effort. After a certain limit, simply increasing the effort ceases to be beneficial and can only do more harm. It is important that the movement is executed correctly and the force is directed in the right way. In addition to strength, the biomechanical aspect of running is an important factor. After all, we must strive to ensure that the force put in brings the greatest benefit in the form of the fastest movement.
So it's a good idea to start doing sprints at sub-maximum speed. A good speed is usually a 400m pace. This is still a fairly fast run and because we are only running 60-100 metres, we are still able to feel the idea of a relaxed run. As we catch on to what this is all about, we can increase the speed, all the time keeping in mind to maintain some form of relaxed running.
How to run sprints according to Tom Tellez
Tom Tellez (born 1933) is a famous American athletic trainer who has many achievements in the fields of kinesiology, physiology and biomechanics of movement. His best known athlete is Carl Lewis, a sprinter and distance jumper. Tom Tellez has published many scientific articles in the field of sport and supports coaches all over the world in their activities.
How we run sprints is a product of three factors: step frequency, stride length and the quality of our anaerobic preparation.
The first is a physiological factor: it depends on training, muscle type, muscle flexibility, strength, muscle-nerve coordination. It takes a certain amount of training to achieve the required step frequency, but this is not the factor that determines success. If we analyse the best sprinters they all have a very similar stride frequency.
The length of the stride depends more on the strength of the muscles and the ability to generate more power with each stride, as well as good channelling of the generated power and the right biomechanics of the movement, i.e. the ability to "guide the leg along the right path".
So what can we do to improve our sprinting performance? It seems that the best way is to lengthen the stride. And we should do this by pushing ourselves harder off the ground.
It's a mistake to lengthen your stride by "hunching" your leg forward more. If while running we devote our energy to throwing our leg forward as far as possible, this action will be inefficient: it will cause an opposite acceleration and thus slow us down, and additionally it will slow down hip rotation (which gives most power in sprinting) and will transfer too much load to sciatic and shin muscles. The more the hips are flexed (in maximum forward leg throw) the greater this risk is, so it won't be hard to get injured here.
In other words, the force we generate while running must be opposite to the direction of our movement and be the resultant of forces directed downwards and backwards. The best fast running technique is a perfect combination of these two components.
If we put too much backward directed force in relation to the downward directed force, we will look like skaters on an ice rink and our run will not be very flexible, we will lose a lot of elastic energy. Again, too much downward force will result in too much hopping without much horizontal movement (which is, after all, what we want).
What if two players direct the force in the right way? Then the one who exerts more force in one step will win. The competitor should try to apply the greatest force for the longest time possible. This will result in a longer impulse, resulting in a greater change of moment.
Also remember that the main force generators in sprints are the hips (hip joint) and the muscles that are extensors of the hip joint. The strongest of these is obviously the gluteus maximus muscle. Next, the greatest work in hip straightening is performed by the adductor masseter and semimembranosus muscle from the sciatic-shin muscle group.
The athlete who can make the best use of the hips will be the fastest. Tom Tellez says that the hips should be imagined like the crank of a mechanism that delivers force in a rotational manner to the surface you are running on. This force is then returned back to the centre of our body weight, helping to pull it away from the surface. This is a bit like running a locomotive, where rotational movement is used to transfer force to the wheels.
Once the foot touches the surface, the hip joint continues to straighten and force generation continues to carry us forward. The foot, or more precisely the ankle joint, should be placed directly below the knee, the tibias should then be perpendicular to the ground surface.
In a sprinter, the first contact of the foot is the contact of the outer part of the toes. Then the weight is gradually transferred to all toes. As the body passes the foot, the heel gently touches the ground. As the hip straightens, the ankle joint also naturally straightens. However, it is important to remember that the foot is only supporting the entire movement process.
Interestingly, in 400-800 m runners, the first contact of the foot usually occurs at the metatarsal, while in 1500 m runners, it involves the whole foot.
Also remember that good arm and leg coordination is important in sprint running. In good sprinters this is the key to success. In order to use the force generated for as long as possible, it is useful to have as long a shoulder movement as possible. Therefore, it is important that the movement in the shoulders and hips is as far as possible (the greatest from an economic point of view, not the greatest possible).
Scientifically speaking, the shoulders are the axis of rotation for the arms, while the elbow joint shortens and lengthens the lever if necessary. Elbow flexion reduces the moment of inertia, increasing angular velocity. Arm movement without the use of elbow flexion would result in running with straight arms and lack of coordination with the legs. Correct arm movement allows for greater rebound distance and therefore increases stride length. And this is a very important element to guarantee success in fast running.
As for the anaerobic preparation, the phosphagen system provides us with energy for 5 to 8 seconds (to start and accelerate), the glycogen system for 40-50 seconds (to maintain speed). Both of these systems are extremely important for running up to 800 metres. Speed training improves the functioning of these systems.
Hill sprints as a first step
The first step in your training should be hill sprints. Hill sprints are quite popular among long distance runners largely thanks to Renato Canova or Brad Hudson. They just work. In fact, not only long distance runners but also sprinters do hill sprints.
Why are hill sprints so good to start with? Because due to the way we move when running on an inclined surface, it is much harder to hurt yourself. Additionally, it's easier to perform them correctly because they uniquely emphasise hip extension (which is an important part of a correct running stride) and it's quite difficult to land on your heel when running uphill.
The slope of the hill depends on the goal we want to achieve with our training. The steeper the slope is more for running strength, the less steep the more we support speed. If you're training sprints with speed training in mind, it's a good idea to start with a medium incline and gradually reduce it over time. If you're looking for strength endurance, you should rather stay on a steeper slope.
First steps
When planning uphill sprints, it's a good idea to start with a few (4-5) repetitions that last about 8 seconds each. Between each sprint you should take a full rest, which means at least 3 minutes, and sometimes maybe more. It is important to keep an eye on this as sprints do not initially make us feel very tired, so we may tend to shorten our rest periods.
It is a good idea to start training for hill sprints by doing them once a week. Each week increase the number of sprints until you reach about 10, sometimes increasing the duration a little from 8 to 10 seconds as a training progression.
Flat sprints
After a few weeks of hill sprints we can move on to flat sprints. These are best done on a treadmill.
It is best to start with a 60-metre section, bearing in mind that also here a full rest is necessary after each repetition, even more than during the uphill sprints. Once the athlete has done 8 to 10 hill sprints he can move on to 4 flat sprints.
It is a good idea to alternate flat sprints with hill sprints. Only after a while you can switch to only one type of sprint, which you want to emphasise.
If the focus is on speed, you can eventually abandon hill sprints and stick to flat sprints.
For flat sprints we gradually increase the number of sprints to around 6. We also gradually increase the distance from 60 metres to 80 metres to eventually reach 100 metres.
Next steps in sprint training - speed endurance
After a few weeks, depending of course on what you want to emphasise in your training, you start to move on to speed endurance. This means that we add one or two longer repetitions at the end of the training session. These repetitions can be done as an uphill sprint or as a simple flat sprint. The choice of sprint type configuration will depend on what we currently want to emphasise in the workout, namely our training goals. The general principle in adding speed endurance repetitions is the same for both types of sprints. We subtract a few speed (shorter) repetitions and add one speed endurance (longer) repetition at the end. So if, for example, we have reached 10 sprints on a hill, we reduce the number of shorter speed sprints (8-10 seconds) from 10 sprints to 5-6, and instead add one longer sprint of 15-20 seconds at the end. For flat sprints we reduce them from 5-6 x 100 metres to 3 x 60-80 metres and add one 150 metre sprint at the end.
You can of course go even further and use a further progression of this workout. After some time you can add one or even two more 150 metre repetitions and extend them from 150 metres to 200 metres or even to 250 metres (but only if your training goals would require you to do so). However, if we are training for a marathon, this will no longer be necessary.
Example of sprint training progression
It is impossible to give a good answer for everyone on what sprint training should look like. Everything will depend on the individual, their training intentions, the moment in the annual preparation period and what they want to achieve with sprints.
It is sufficient to do sprints once a week, usually after a long steady run or a long warm-up.
Below is an example of a training block that takes into account the progression of difficulty of the sprints. The purpose of this example is to show what a training progression can look like and how the different activities link together. The example shown is rather stretched out in time and quite safe. It will be suitable for beginners, who have not had much experience with speed training before. Of course, for more advanced individuals, a shorter progression can be used, but you must always take into account the individual and how they adapt to training.
The progression of sprints, depending on your intentions, can be done by modifying the duration or distance, number of repetitions or the slope (for uphill sprints).
Once you have completed a block of sprints you should also remember to train to maintain your ability. Such a refresher (or maintenance) training should be done every 2-5 weeks (depending on the athlete and time) and can for example look like this: 3-5 x 60-80 m flat sprint, 2x150 m flat sprint or 2 x 60 m+100 m+150 m+200 m flat sprint.
Example of a progression with speed endurance sprints
- 6 x 8 sec uphill - 6% gradient for all sprints
- 8 x 8 sec uphill
- 10 x 8 sec uphill
- 4 x 60 m flat
- 8 x 10 sec uphill
- 5 x 80 m flat
- 9 x 10 sec uphill
- 5 x 100 m flat
- 4 x 60m, 1 x 150m flat
- 8 x 10 sec + 2 x 25 sec uphill
- 2 x 60m, 2 x 80m, 100m, 150m, 200m
- 4 x 100m, 150m, 200m
Example of progression with strength endurance sprints
- 6 x 8 sec uphill - 6% incline
- 8 x 8 sec uphill - 6% incline
- 10 x 8 sec uphill - 6% incline
- 4 x 60 m flat
- 8 x 8 sec – incline 8%
- 5 x 80 m flat
- 8 x 10 sec – incline 8%
- 5 x 100 m flat
- 8 x 10 sec - incline 10%
- 10 x 10 sec - 12% incline
- 5 x 10 sec + 5 x 15 sec - 12% incline
For longer sprints on steeper gradients it is advisable to extend the interval between repetitions to 5 minutes.
* 6% incline means 6 metres of incline for every 100 metres of distance