Sprints

[hotborsh]

Hey guys, i'm thinking of adding sprints to my conditioning. What distance do you sprint and how many sets? I have 0 idea on how to structure sprints.

 

[Tosa]

What is your goal behind adding sprints to your conditioning? What other conditioning and training have you been doing? That will determine how you'd structure sprints.

 

[ironwolf]

Hey guys, i'm thinking of adding sprints to my conditioning. What distance do you sprint and how many sets? I have 0 idea on how to structure sprints.

I find a hill that takes about 40 seconds, I do it about 10-15 times, do it about 2-3 times a week.

 

[ironwolf]

What is your goal behind adding sprints to your conditioning? What other conditioning and training have you been doing? That will determine how you'd structure sprints.

jesus christ...

 

[hotborsh]

I don't have any hills nearby unfortunately. I train mma and muay thai, i do liss and some calisthenics during the week if that helps.

 

[ironwolf]

I don't have any hills nearby unfortunately. I train mma and muay thai, i do liss and some calisthenics during the week if that helps.

Thanks for talking about your liss regimen, even though it has nothing do do with sprints....cool.....

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Hey Ironwolf,

As the go-to guy on S&C about running, I wanted to ask you this but I figure I'll ask it here:

I've been running consistently 5k 1x every week for the last 6 months or so.

Don't laugh, but my time went from over 30 mn (which is miserable) to 25 mn (which sucks), and I feel like I am at my limit when I am done with the 25 mn (180 BPM).

Now, should I just ...........
- add another 5k run ?
- add sprints ?

Input appreciated.

Oh BTW I forgot : my objective is to reach the 22 mn mark before year-end.

 

[ironwolf]

Hey Ironwolf,

As the go-to guy on S&C about running, I wanted to ask you this but I figure I'll ask it here:

I've been running consistently 5k 1x every week for the last 6 months or so.

Don't laugh, but my time went from over 30 mn (which is miserable) to 25 mn (which sucks), and I feel like I am at my limit when I am done with the 25 mn (180 BPM).

Now, should I just ...........
- add another 5k run ?
- add sprints ?

Input appreciated.

Oh BTW I forgot : my objective is to reach the 22 mn mark before year-end.

Good job hacking 5 mins off your 5k time, thats solid right there.

Are you ONLY doing 1 run every week? When I have a 5k race coming up and I want to get a good time, I'll do a weekly "long" run of about 6-7 miles then do some race pace type stuff like 400s, 800s.

I have been adding more sprints lately and they seem to help.

FTR though, I think theres some faster runners here than me, Im just an 18 min 5k guy which dosent really even win local races haha.

 

[toonie]

jesus christ...

Nope. That's Tosa.

 

[Tosa]

Nope. That's Tosa.

Although I understand the confusion.


(1) There's no need for a hill. The major benefit of a hill is it reduces impact, and stretch, lowering the risk of injury and aches and pains. I very much doubt that anyone's conditioning is so great that sprints on flat ground are too easy.

(2) Yes, it does matter that he's been doing LISS running. It means that there should already be an aerobic base, and that he's used to running - although sprinting could easily take some getting used to on top of that.

(3) Goals do matter. A powerlifter, fighter, and distance runner might all do "Sprints" as part of their conditioning, but that doesn't mean they'd do it the same way. But if all you care about is exhausting yourself . . .

 

[LatFlare]

Since he's ''adding sprints to my conditioning'' I'm guessing it's simply for GPP in which case something simple like 4x400, 4x200 & 2x100 would do, unless he's actually planning to race then he'll require more advanced programming.

 

[hotborsh]

Yes, it's simply for GPP. As i see a lot of people doing those, but i don't know how to structure them. Ty for the idea ^^^.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Just throwing this in here for consideration, a sprint/HIIT protocol that was used by some researchers in Iran:

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-iranian-hiit-solution-three-200m.html

The subjects (who were overweight and sedentary) loss 2% of their body fat (equivalent to 9% reduction in body fat percentage), increased aerobic capacity by 26% and reduced insulin resistance by more than 50%.

Doubtless it could be improved, but I think it's interesting to see a protocol which has been used and studied in some detail.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Good job hacking 5 mins off your 5k time, thats solid right there.

Are you ONLY doing 1 run every week? When I have a 5k race coming up and I want to get a good time, I'll do a weekly "long" run of about 6-7 miles then do some race pace type stuff like 400s, 800s.

I have been adding more sprints lately and they seem to help.

FTR though, I think theres some faster runners here than me, Im just an 18 min 5k guy which dosent really even win local races haha.

Yes, that 's right. I currently run 5K only once a week and will keep on doing so.

I want to add 1 running session (either sprint / another 5k).

What should I add ? Again, my goal is to lower my 5K time.

EDIT: respect on the 18 mn / 5 K. You're a monster, dude.

 

[selfcritical]

I'd probably do extensive or intensive tempo training on the extra day, rather than an extra 5k

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/tr...ing-part-3-tempo-and-sweet-spot-training.html

 

[JauntyAngle]

I'd probably do extensive or intensive tempo training on the extra day, rather than an extra 5k

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/tr...ing-part-3-tempo-and-sweet-spot-training.html

On the topic of extensive intervals/tempo runs... that was actually my favoured sort of speed work when I was trying to increase my 5k. It was like this:

Say my 5k pace at the time was 13kmph. So I would run 5x1km intervals at 14kmph. First day I did it, I might have 90 second walking breaks. Second day, 60 seconds, third day, 45 seconds. At that point, it was getting hard to decrease the rest, so the next time out I would do the intervals at, say, 14.3kmph, and go back to 90 second rests.

I found them reasonably effective- they got me from 25:00 to under 21:00 (albeit on a treadmill) pretty quickly. While 21:00 is still not that good, it was continuous progress and didn't seem to be slowing down, I am sure I could have taken it further, but my priorities changed.

That being said, I didn't and wouldn't alternate between 5ks and tempo runs. I think you need to take a bit more time to let the effects of the training accumulate. I would tend to cycle between long/slow runs and tempo runs. Then after a while, try a 5k.

 

[dat1978]

Just throwing this in here for consideration, a sprint/HIIT protocol that was used by some researchers in Iran:

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-iranian-hiit-solution-three-200m.html

The subjects (who were overweight and sedentary) loss 2% of their body fat (equivalent to 9% reduction in body fat percentage), increased aerobic capacity by 26% and reduced insulin resistance by more than 50%.

Doubtless it could be improved, but I think it's interesting to see a protocol which has been used and studied in some detail.

I'm gonna try this.

 

[senri]

Just throwing this in here for consideration, a sprint/HIIT protocol that was used by some researchers in Iran:

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-iranian-hiit-solution-three-200m.html

The subjects (who were overweight and sedentary) loss 2% of their body fat (equivalent to 9% reduction in body fat percentage), increased aerobic capacity by 26% and reduced insulin resistance by more than 50%.

Doubtless it could be improved, but I think it's interesting to see a protocol which has been used and studied in some detail.

that is very high intensive tempo. By the 3 rep you are not even sprinting anymore just running.

 

[JauntyAngle]

that is very high intensive tempo. By the 3 rep you are not even sprinting anymore just running.

Yeah, it is not what I would call "true sprints" - distance you can actually go near max intensity, full recovery between sprints. More like traditional HIIT.