Sprinting or Distance?

[Legendary]

I understand that sprinting is much more intense and will train you for the quick bursts, but long distance running is important too right? Should I focus on one over the other or split it evenly? I haven't really made a workout plan for sprinting, or have an idea how many times I should do it weekly. When I do sprint, I do 1minute sprinting, then 45 second rest walking , and I can only do that 3 or 4 times at the moment. When I do long distance I run in 1 mile intervals, allowing a few minutes break in between miles, 3 miles total. I read about the Pcr/Glycolytic/ and Aerobic power systems in the FAQ but I was wondering how I should or if I should balance it. I run 4 times a week.

 

[spaghettilegs]

No one is going to know what to say unless you tell us what your goals are or what you're training for.

 

[selfcritical]

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2010/01/base-training-is-not-just-easy-running.html

When you're a novice it probably makes sense to develop both, but people have used both long-to-short and short-to-long periodization successfully. Once you're not a novice, you will probably want to concentrate on one or the other, but speed work will involve a lot of active recovery.

 

[Baalzamon**]

Depends on your goal.
If you are training for endurance races like marathons or half marathons, you need to do a little of everything. Distance runs. Sprint interval training. Hills. Etc.

If you aren't training for endurance races like marathons etc, then you really don't need distance runs.

BTW, when I say "distance run" I am only counting runs that are above five miles. Anything under 5 miles really isn't a distance run.

 

[Baalzamon**]

I used to run with USA Fit, which is an organization that trains people for marathons. I trained only for the half marathon though, which I completed in 2.5 hours. Not great, but I was super satisfied with the accomplishment.

Schedules would vary every week, but a typical week for the half marathon training program would look like this:

Mon - 30 minute light jog
Tues - 10 minute warmup jog; 20 minutes hill training; 10 minute cool-down jog
Wed - 40 minute run as fast as you can manage
Thurs - 10 minute warmup jog; 20 minutes sprint intervals; 10 minute cool-down jog
Fri - REST
Sat - 8 mile run
Sun - REST

The Saturday distance run would fluctuate every weekend, from 6 miles to 10 miles, building as the season progressed; full marathon training usually ran twice the distance we half'ers did.

 

[JauntyAngle]

I think people need to know if you are running to become a better runner, or if you are running to improve your conditioning for your sport. If the latter, what sport?

 

[Legendary]

I think people need to know if you are running to become a better runner, or if you are running to improve your conditioning for your sport. If the latter, what sport?

I'd love to become a better runner, just for health and training reasons, but I am really trying to train specifically for MMA and Grappling .

 

[miaou]

I'd love to become a better runner, just for health and training reasons, but I am really trying to train specifically for MMA and Grappling .

Do aerobic work of some modality or other to build up your cardio base.

Focus on MMA-specific work for your anaerobic endurance.


Also, there are no 1-minute sprints with 45 seconds rest. That's physically impossibru.

 

[Legendary]

Do aerobic work of some modality or other to build up your cardio base.

Focus on MMA-specific work for your anaerobic endurance.


Also, there are no 1-minute sprints with 45 seconds rest. That's physically impossibru.

I used a lot of miswording in this thread. Obviously I can't 100% sprint for 1 minute, but I run for 1 minute, as fast as I can. You know what I mean haha

 

[senri]

I'd love to become a better runner, just for health and training reasons, but I am really trying to train specifically for MMA and Grappling .

if you want to be a better runner, then train longer distance, sprinting is a different animal and will not contribute much to your cardio output. However if you want to be powerful and fast then focus mainly on the sprints, but use distance work as active recovery workouts, so even that has limited volume.