No other sports focus exclusively on getting in shape, developing speed, improving running technique and training for strength as the exclusive training requirements for success. And since your season has to go from general conditioning to event specific training in a maximum of 12 weeks (unlike collegiate seasons that have 11 months) there is no time to waste with ineffective workout strategies. That’s why it is of critical importance that your program revolves around an organized set of training principles so that your athletes see continuous improvement and consistent results. In a sport where a few hundredths of a second can be the difference between being a champion and not even making the final, athletes can not afford to train using out dated, old school training principles.

One of the primary problems that I see with coaches as they design their speed training for track and field sprinters is the confusion of what speed work actually consists of.. Many programs actually do far too much conditioning work for what is actually required to compete at a high level in the sprint events. For example, the 100 and 200 are almost entirely anaerobic. So what purpose does it serve to do aerobic training or lactic acid workouts at moderate intensities? For example, why do repeat 200s or 300s at less than ~90% intensity with your 100 and 200 runners? This type of training will not make short sprinters any faster. They should be focusing on high intensity speed training. On their off days, easy tempo workouts at around 70-75% intensity provide more than enough conditioning work for their needs. Athletes can’t get faster by training at less than full speed.

At the same time, you have to make sure you understand what speed training for track and field sprinters actually is. In order to truly develop the ability to accelerate out of blocks, maintain top speeds and run through the pain that comes at the end of a 200 or 400, athletes must get full recovery between repetitions of their workouts. That means they have to rest approximately one minute for every 10 meters that they run. Speed can only be developed if athletes are training without fatigue present. Less rest than this will not allow them to do this. So a workout of 5x100 meters at 95% intensity would be a good workout for a 100/200 meter runner. To get the most out of this workout, I would recommend a rest period of around 10 minutes between each run. That may sound like an unnatural amount of rest, but consider the demands of the event and the structure of a meet. This is how long athletes must recover between runs when you are laying out your speed training for track and field sprinters, regardless of age, gender or experience level.