University Level Track and Field

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hello T-Nation! (props to the introduction lol)

Alright, so i’m a dude from the Philippines. I’m aspiring to become a member of our university track and field team, particularly the 100m dash event. I actually just returned to college from a 2 year leave of absence (financial problems), and yeah, as the introduction goes, i’m aspiring to be a member of the team.

I have a friend who is part of the team already, his general consensus was that if I can run the 100m dash in about 11.2-11.4 seconds, I can basically qualify. I’ve been lifting for actually the past 3 or so years, but probably just d*cking around for the first 1 to 1 1/2. I’m 5’8 and around 140-145 lbs. My 1rm on the following lifts are: 190 for the bench, 290 for the squat, 330 for the deadlift, 150 for the push press, 190 for the power clean & split jerk, and my best time for the 100m dash is at 11.8 seconds. (and i have a 36 in vertical if that means anything :P)

I’ve participated in different sports ever since, and I used to be a member of my highschool basketball team (freshman-senior year), however I have virtually no experience with sprinting at the competitive level.

I used to be a bit bigger, in the 150-155lb range, but that was when I was still working and could afford supplements, (I was taking ON gold standard whey and MusclePharm post workout creatine), but I’ve been off the supps for probably 1 year now since i cant afford them (money woes, I swear to god, money is really hard to come by here in the phils lol). Ever since going off the supps, i’ve found it extremely difficult to gain weight, but my strength levels still increase regardless.

I’ve actually been reading t nation articles for quite a while now but i’ve only decided to join the forums recently.

So basically this is a shout out to those who have backgrounds in sprint training, strength/explosive training. What might be your suggestions/points of advice so i can further better myself on my pursuit? Are my lifts good/decent? Is my 100m dash time good? Any suggestions on how I can further lower my dash time? How can i further increase my 1rm lifts? (i currently do a 5x5 for sort of relative strength increases)

Comments would be greatly appreciated! Have a great day folks!

edit: oh one more thing, this is how my program goes:

m - posterior chain (deadlift) & upper back (pulldowns, etc) and maybe some bicep work
t - pushing movements (split jerk/push press & bench press) & core
w - running/sprinting drills
th - pushing movements (split jerk/push press & squats) & core
f - running/sprinting
s - olympic lifting (power clean/push press/split jerk) + shoulder work & core
su - light sprinting work

2

Not knowing anything about track… I don’t think strength is the problem.

3

well okay, let me rephrase a bit, i have some knowledge of the sport, i’ve been training with my friend who is part of the university team, as well as some other friends who have ran track in highschool. but of course, i myself don’t think im up to snuff yet with actual track runners. i was just wondering tho about the points of concern i posted above :stuck_out_tongue:

4

It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about this stuff.

In general, more 30-50m interval work, and 200-300m interval work will help improve your 100m time. Something like shorter intervals, recovery day(s), longer intervals, recovery day(s), repeat. Some days with short (10-15s) rest times, some with longer (30-40s) rests. Make sure you spend some of that time training in running spikes.

Also put some specific focus on hamstring training. Leg curls, glute ham raises, stiff-leg deadlifts. Regular deadlifts just aren’t enough.

I can’t really get more specific than that. It was a long time ago, and I can only remember the bare outlines.

You may want to ask the running-specific questions in the Conditioning forum.

5

thanks lo rez. an opinion though, what would you put more emphasis on in the weight room, squats or deadlifts? coz some say squats would basically replicate the sprinting movement, and others say deadlifts because of the greater (?) posterior chain + hamstring recruitment.

6

also take at least one(minimum) whole day off a week form exercise. You’re putting a lot of stress on the body with all that sprinting and it will catch up with you

7

Charlie Francis had his sprinters do quarter squats and deadlifts.

Generally speaking, the order of importance for a sprinter is:

A) parents AKA genetics
B) sprint training (if you train for speed, take enough rest in between attempts. It’s not endurance you’re after here)
c) weight room strength.

8

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
B) sprint training (if you train for speed, take enough rest in between attempts. It’s not endurance you’re after here)[/quote]
I slightly disagree with the 2nd part of this.

Accumulating fatigue with reduced rest times is an important part of speed work too, especially when done with the shorter intervals. Some sessions you should be fully/mostly recovered between sprints, and some you shouldn’t. Both should be trained.

But yeah, genetics, then sport specific training, then weight training.

9

[quote]LoRez wrote:
I slightly disagree with the 2nd part of this.

Accumulating fatigue with reduced rest times is an important part of speed work too, especially when done with the shorter intervals. Some sessions you should be fully/mostly recovered between sprints, and some you shouldn’t. Both should be trained.

But yeah, genetics, then sport specific training, then weight training.[/quote]

The point is that “both should be trained”. I think it’s more likely that someone will neglect the fully recovered sprint training since it doesn’t feel like hard work. TL;DR We both meant the same thing, really.

10

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
TL;DR We both meant the same thing, really.
[/quote]
Nope, you’re wrong. :wink: