Maybe you've busted your butt at endless reps of strides down the field or resisted running and you can't figure out what you are doing wrong. I already told you guys a good amount of why you aren't improving your speed, but I want to go a little further in depth. Let's look at some of the reasons why your training isn't making your faster.
1) You are running too slow. As usual, I try not to get too sciency (I try to keep the ideas simple for the blog, but ALL my training methodology is based on science), but you need to understand a bit. To maximize recruitment of fast twitch muscle fibers as well as develop neuromuscular coordination, you need to train in a fashion that challenges you specifically. Doing intervals of 110s at 75-80% isn't optimal training, but you will have a good base to come and run the 800 for me during track. If you are trying to get better at sprinting, sprint! You don't play soccer to get better at basektball, nor do you cycle to get better at swimming. You need to sprint to get better at sprinting. Can you get residual benefits from doing strides in a speed program? Yes, but those are for recovery and/or general conditioning workouts, not speed workouts.
2) You are doing too much. This is one that parents have a harder time understanding than the kids. A few parents think that the only way to get better is to constantly do more. Parents and coaches, do your kids a favor and train them smarter, not harder! And to the athlete who wants to do two or three a days every day, you will most likely break down before you meet your potentiality. You can only do so much with your body before it starts to shut off. You shouldn't even get close to that in training. Remember our friend supercompensation! Without the recovery period, you don't get compensated.
3) Your training is not specific. Agility drills are great. For agility. Ladder drills are great. For footwork (if you have bad motor skills it's going to help you though). Stretching is great. Okay, no it isn't (to be fair, I'm only talking about static stretching because dynamic stretching works better, plus it's way cooler). And for the love of everything good, please stop wearing weight vests when you run. Basically, what are you training for? Knock out these two types of workouts in your training to get where you want to be in your 40: Workouts for your drive phase and sprint form (proper sprint foot striking and turnover), and workouts for top speed. The rest is mostly fluff.
And because I want you to succeed, here is an idea for each to get your speed up to par:
Drive Phase/Footstriking: 4-5 short hill sprints at maximum effort with 4 minutes of recovery between reps. You cannot run fast up a hill with bad form. Yes, you can run up a hill with bad form, but once again you cannot run fast up a hill with bad form. You will find yourself driving your arms and amplifying your leg swing as you would in a true sprint. You will be landing on the balls of your foot, not the heel, what you will also be doing in a maximal sprint. If the hill takes more than 6-8 seconds to run, it's too long.
Top Speed: 4-5 flying 30s. These are short sprints where you are already moving (jogging or striding) when you sprint for a short, all out sprint. If you can find a very slight decline (not down a hill or levee, but rather a gradual slope like what you find on the crown on a football field) this is the best place to do this workout. Continue to work on form.
As always, do a proper warm-up. If you want to start competing like an elite athlete, you need to start to consider training like one.
No comments:
Post a Comment