Speed Training

Regardless of the sport, if you want your athletes to succeed then you must implement a structured speed training program into your overall system. Speed is a skill that can be taught to any athlete when they follow certain training elements that have proven to be successful.

Overall, speed training is a term that can cover a multitude of training concepts from acceleration development and maximum velocity (top speed) training to speed endurance and special endurance type workouts. The bottom line with specific speed training workouts is that they must be run at full or near full intensity. In addition, when performing speed workouts, it is of critical importance that athletes get full recovery between each and every repetition.

As I mentioned before, speed is a skill. In order to make the largest improvements in speed, athletes must not be fatigued when doing their speed work. If they are, the nervous system will not function as it should. The result is decreased muscular output and poor technique. By practicing under these conditions athletes only reinforce the bad habits that a good speed training program is designed to eliminate. That being said, full rest between each repetition should be at least 3 minutes.

Our general rule of thumb is to rest approximately one minute for every 10 yards (or meters) that an athlete runs. For example, a workout consisting of 8 x 40 yards would mean that athletes should rest about 4 minutes between each bout of sprinting.

This can be difficult for some coaches to comprehend as they are not used to the idea of resting this long between reps. However, it is a matter of science that such rest intervals are required to allow the body to fully recover so that athletes can complete subsequent reps at a pace that allows for improvements in their fastest times. Shorter rest periods certainly have their place in your speed training program, however they will not result in, for example, a faster 40 yard dash time.

When we start taking submaximal work like repeat 200s and repeat 400s and call it ‘speed work’ it is no wonder athletes are not making the improvements or showing the consistency that we expect from them.

Coaches and athletes who are serious about speed development also understand that there is more to speed training than simply running workouts. A number of training modalities must be incorporated into the program in order to see consistent and satisfying results.

These supplements to your speed work include instituting a dynamic warm up routine, introducing agility and change of direction training, emphasizing flexibility work and sport specific conditioning. It also includes regular core training, strength and power development as well as carefully structured rest and recovery.

Many people understate the overall demands of true speed training by limiting their thinking to the number of intervals they will do on the track. But by developing the overall athlete, you can expect to see a far greater return on your investment of time and effort.

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