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This is my first year of training for masters track and need some advice on what I should be doing right now to prepare for the 100, 200 and 400 events. I have read that during the winter months sprinters should do mostly base building. Should I be doing long runs of 2 - 4 miles or shorter runs of 600 to 800 meters, or both? I have also read that I should be doing weight trianing, hill runs and plyometrics during this time.

Can some of you veterans help me out?

Thanks,

Tony

Hi tonyb --I can only speak from what our coach recommends, but during our off season we do longer intervals such as 400-600, always concentrating on form. We also X train with plyos on the grass. He generally advises to avoid long runs because he says they shorten our stride length.

Liz, With all due respect to your coach, I don't think there's any evidence for long runs shortening the stride. There is evidence that endurance training can be detrimental to strength training so perhaps that's where he's coming from. I'm currently reading Earl Fee's book on training. (It's on Amazon). he has a section on base building in the fall that's well done--as is the entire book as far as I can tell. It's a real treat to read the wisdom of a man with 40 world records!

Let me find the information but long distance runs may not shorten your stride but it is not good for a sprinter. YOu are teaching your body the wrong things. When you sprint you change one energy system and when you perform long runs you train another system. Long runs can be counter productive. Granted they have there place in your normal training but the focus should not be on that part of your training.

Olympian Marty Liquori lived and trained in Gainesville in a state that is flat as an alligator's profile. To do "hill" training, Liquori would run up the stadium steps at the University of Florida. "When you run a lot of distance, your stride shortens," says Liquori. "Your leg muscles are not extending, so they become fairly weak. You go to a hill phase to make a transition, to force you to open up your stride by bounding up hills. You exaggerate knee lift and arm swing, push off with the toes and the calves. This strengthens your quadriceps and buttocks muscles before going back onto the track."

I know that distance training does nothing to lengthen your stride, and Marty Liquori felt that it shortened his. in 2006 I did a considerable amount of distance training and while it enhanced my endurance my stride length suffered. Only after I stopped distance training was I able to consistently work on stretching out my stride so I could successfully 3-step a hurdle race.

Liz, I think we're probably in agreement or close to it. If I could survive the kind of distance Liquori did in his base period, my stride would shorten to a walk (or crawl). I notice he spoke of "weakness" and the need to do hills (steps). I really think the point for those of us focused on the 400 and below is getting a good base that includes more aerobic training than in the competitive season, does not overdo the distance work, and includes hill work. One of my favorite activities is the occasional fall trail run, and I'd hate to give it up. But once or twice week in the fall--especially when I finish up with easy strides--doesn't seem to harm my stride length. I also continue the weights and try to do one or two repeat sessions of 400's--replacing in season 200s and 300s.

Thanks to all for responding to my question. It looks like I should be concentrating on 400 - 600 repeats, hill training, plyos and weight training with an occasional long run.
Can you critique this possible training schedule?

2 days a week
warm up run 800 meters
drills ( high knees, lunges, butt kicks and backward run) 10 - 20 yards
3 X 600
3 x 400
cool down 800 meter

1 day
3 mile long run with plyo after

2 days a week
weight train

1 day
warm up run 800 meter
10 - 15 stadium steps
cool down 800 meter run

Thanks for your help.

Tony

I would try to get some speed work in there somewhere if you want to run the 100m. As a sprinter, I would never go too long without actually sprinting. And as an added benefit, it will eventually make running those longer intervals much easier.

Reneehend

Would you get a little detailed about the speed work you do this time of year? Thanks

Sure Leigh. First let me say that I am not a coach and would never advocate that anybody do anything based on what I do. That said (sorry, its the lawyer in me) around now I like doing 100's no slower than I would run the back stretch in a 400m race. I stop if I feel they've gotten too slow. If I feel like can do more than 10, I probably didn't do them fast enough. While not what I would consider a speed workout during track season, I like doing it this time of year.

Thanks Renee. Now if only my 100 was as fast as the backstretch on your 400.

Renee

Thanks for the input. It does make sense to do some type of sprint work along with the off season training. I think I will add 100m sprints with either the weight days or the stadium step days.

Thanks again,

Tony

Do any of you do sprints on pavement?

With it getting dark earlier now, the track is closing before I can get to it and it's easier just to sprint up and down my alley and around the block.

It's OK; my neighbors already know I'm nuts.

About a a five minute drive from my house is a park that has a grass football field with what used to be a cinder track surrounding it. The track now has grass covering it. Up a very slight hill from the track are two softball fields. I know...a runners paradise right!? I run on one of the fields or the grass track. I'm sure the people driving by think I'm nuts because there is a really nice all weather track about five minutes in the other direction. I stay off the hard surfaces. I don't think my joints can take it. I don't even run on the real track til after December. But then I do so at the mercy of the Northeast Winter.