The point isn’t the percise routine but the length of it, if someone can do 1.6 miles in 20 minutes then suggesting them to do sprint training is like telling some who can’t squat to deph to barbell squat.
Some top middle distance guys run 100 miles a week, and sprinters often do long slow runs duriing the off season. If you mean what I normally see meant by “tempo” runs (near race pace) then no, that’s way too fast for recovery, that’ll just tire you out a lot more.
Of course speed work is needed, but it requires some sort of fitness to do, especially with weights as well
Running 1.6miles in 20 mins represents the level of a 70 year old at a semi serious running club.
Someone can be a muscle monster with great strength and fast twitch capabilities and sprint fast over say 40m but be rubbish at any form of distance work. So whilst it is a poor endurance speed it may not preclude sprinting.
Define more precisely the type/duration of long slow runs used by sprinters off season
I am not aware of any elite athletes/coaches going for longer than 20 mins - let me know who you mean if it is more than that. The exception may be some 400m runners (only).
The point of the original post was the use of a 3 mile warm up, not a pre season training session.
Distances run by middle distance runners are irrelevant to sprinters.
There is a difference between extensive tempo and intensive tempo in terms of speed and effort, and they do not mean the same thing as a “tempo run” in endurance terms.
Race pace and tempo runs are not necessarily the same thing.
Jog is only necessary for the totally unfit. I would expect a T-Nation poster that has already trained seriously for something to start with a cut down version of a proper sprint pgm.
Extensive tempo is more suitable for building sprint related endurance than trying to plod faster for 20mins plus.
GPP
Extensive tempo : Eg 10x100, 8x200 etc. Depends if runner approach is S>L or L>S.
Hills : 40-100m.
Accels : 10-30m .
GPP > SPP
Introduce short sprints of 20-40m.
And so on …
Note that the above tempo runs are not 20-30mins endurance runs at 10k to 10M pace as per endurance runs.
Note the above is a short to long approach. Long to short as per say Clyde Hart will have higher tempo volumes.
Please state your example running pgm that include long runs, and who the coaching influence is.
I could also give him a program consisting entirely of calf raises, doesn’t mean that’s a good idea.
Uh,he said his fitness level, 1.6 miles in 20 minutes. You don’t need to guess or assume anything.
Hence he should start by building his stamina to a moderate level so he can train off of that.
If you’re talking about a single short burst, but in something more like team sports where you need to recover (often on the move), then have a another burst, with massively varying length, no. They can help a bit, but if that’s all you’re doing for endurance you’ll hit a wal pretty quickly, or get injured.
That’s not a program, it’s vague hand waving, there’s no defined progression, not even the number of repititions let alone a progression
Should I state someone who uses a different type of training than I suggest, like you did?
Here’s something written by Clyde Hart for 400m runners
“aerobic training can be as much as 40%”
Or how about Essop Merrick, a former sprinter and coach who says here, low intensity is better for beginners
The original poster. His post proves he is a currently a slow endurance runner. It does not indicate his fast twitch make up or speed capabilities. Use of S>L or L>S for speed development depends on a number of parameters none of which are described by a slow 20 minute jogging performance.
S>L means short to long, if you understood that you would know how the progressions work in the above programme. You work on all the above components in the same training phase. You start with distances of say 10m accelerations and work out to 30m as strength and technique improves. Ditto with hills. Ditto with the transition to pure speed work. Combined with extensive tempo it develops strength, technique and aerobic background. The proportion and phasing of each component is athlete specific.
Extensive tempo is not designed to train for short burst sprints. It is a method of running at sub max (approx 70% of max velocity) with short recovery to develop aerobic fitness and as recovery from speed sessions.
An example is to run length of sports pitch and walk width to recover. Do x times. Provides aerobic stimulus without degradation of fast running technique. If done on grass is better for heavier runners due to lower volumes of ground contact.
Clyde Hart. example week is below - extract from a full version of his presentations
Note longest run is 2 miles. Note the regular programming of high volume interval sessions to develop endurance. eg 10x200 and the 300s/600s. Far more than a use of steady state runs. So I am not a high intensity person per se, for beginners or anyone else, but I believe in tempo and hills as the way to improve endurance necessary for sprinting.
CH makes less use of hills/accels than I suggest. Ron Roddon for example was a great supporter of hills in pre season.
Never heard of Essop Merrick. Probably my ignorance. i am influnced by Clyde Hart, Charlie Francis, Steve Francis (“never run for more than 20mins”)…
When I am warming up for a 300m race and the guy next to me says he got a personal email from Ron recomending his son does a ton of hills as the best single way to improve his 100m time at the early stage of his career- I listen…
On the subject of vague hand waving. I am deliberately leaving out some specifics such as volumes and progressions. The details are only relevant when knowing the specifics of the athlete concerned.
No, a slow endurance runner takes an hour to run 6 miles. It shows he lacks aerobic conditioning, he wants to be more athletically conditioned, and everything else works off it, so it’s where to start. More gifted people can get off that sofa and do more. 1.6m is under 3k (about the upper limit for middle distance running).
I’m well aware of what short to long means. I said there is no defined progression.
The longest run is 2 miles, timed, plus a warm up. This isn’t a program for someone who runs 1.6 miles in 20m. It has 1 mile xc run as warm up, then 1.86 miles of intervals, then another 1 cool down. 3.86 miles total
The next day 1 mile warm up, nearly 2 miles of intervals (including up hill running), then another mile cool down. Nearly 4 miles total
The next day, again 2 miles of warm up, and cool downs, and .84 miles of interval. 2.84 miles total
The next day, again 2 miles of warm up, and cool downs, 1.37 miles of pyrimid, and .37miles of strides. About 3.7 miles total
Then 2.5 miles the next day
About 20 miles a week, at a pretty high intensity.
He’s no big name, but he puts out stuff for normal people, not already competitive people. If OP already had this base I wouldn’t suggest going that long (you could argue 6 miles is excessive, but it’s not hard to get up to once you can string a few together anyway, so I think it is a decent level).
I honestly would’ve have cared if you hadn’t expected me to come up with a running program, citing coaches who have influenced me
I will stick with the benefits of extensive tempo + hills for basic sprint aerobic and strength condtioning rather than steady state running. For all levels and ages of athletes.
I have never come across runners who consider warm up volumes relevant. The acid test is what volumes are recorded in training diaries, no sprinter does this.
