Sprinter Physique

Al,
I was a bit harsh but I wanted to drive home the message that you would hurt yourself on your planned idea for training. Nathan, Coach Davies and Kelly are all giving you good advice to start with Tempo training. Nathan explained it well. I would start with about 500 meters TOTAl tempo running in one session, as he recommended. Focus on good running technique and running relaxed. Warm up well before you start, 2 or 3 laps easy jogging, a good lower body stretch (see Ian King´s Lazy Man´s Guide to Stretching - lower body), then 2 - 3 reps of 100 meter football field runs at a relaxed easy pace, with about 1-2 min pause between each. Then do your Tempo. A simple workout is: 100 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 100. The + signifies a rest. You can run football field lengths, and then rest by walking around for about 30 - 60 seconds, or simply jog back to the end where you started. Your fitness will improve fairly quickly, and as Nathan wrote, you can add 100-200 meters every workout until you get up to about 2000 meters total. As you get fitter, you should improve your warm-up, i.e. the duration and intensity of the warm up will increase (but very gradually!). You can mix up the tempo after a while and do stuff like: 100 + 200 + 100, (+ is 100 jog) then walk 100 (as your set break), then 200 + 200 + 100, etc… until you accumulate the total meters for the workout. As you get fitter, you can add 300, 400 and 500 meters in one continuous run, so you do a 100 + 300 + 100 for example. 200 is simply down and back on a football field. BUT - I still think the best advice is to get involved with a local track club so you learn to sprint properly. It will definitely accelerate your progress, and you have excellent scenery as you do your body good. See if there is a local group that is open to newcomers or recreational sprinters. Good luck.