The official running thread™

Hey guys any tips for improving sprint speed 100, 200 and 500m? Co worker has been taking all my Strava segments and this has to stop.
 
gifs said:
You have plenty of time before Soweto to get ready for a half marathon. The longest run I ever did before my first half marathon was 13km. What I would suggest is that you incorporate one long run every weekend. You can start with 10k in week 1 and follow some sort of progression like this:
Week 1 - 10k
Week 2 - 11k
Week 3 - 12k
Week 4 - 10k
Week 5 - 11k
Week 6 - 12k
Week 7 - 13k
Week 8 - 11k
Week 9 - 12k
Week 10 - 13k
Week 11 - 14k
Week 12 - 12k
Week 13 - 13k
Week 14 - 14k
Week 15 - 15k
Week 16 - 13k
Week 17 - Race day

Supplement that with a couple of shorter runs in the week and you will be golden. You can incorporate some intervals and hill repeats for variation and building speed and strength, starting off slowly and following a similar weekly progression.

You will notice that the distance increases slowly, then every 4th week reduces to allow you to recover.

If you look around online you will find plenty of 16-week long beginner's half marathon training plans. And guess what, just over 16 weeks till Soweto marathon.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah the issue for me is my ability to stick to some sort of training schedule, what with the kids becoming increasingly busy weekends, life, this freezing cold etc. But like Eti1 said, at some point you just have to go for it. What I do find is, if I've got a race scheduled (got the Old Eds 10k in August, going to try do the whole Discovery series) it's far easier to get out there and hit the road.
 
L-Dog said:
Hey guys any tips for improving sprint speed 100, 200 and 500m? Co worker has been taking all my Strava segments and this has to stop.
Click to expand...

Once upon a year I could run 100m in 10 seconds but that was about 15 years ago.

-Practice starts again and again, you only want to be fully upright at the 20m mark, then continue to 30-40m (repeat).
-Plenty explosive training
see 9 min mark those are killer.
-Sprints with a tyre and rope 50m sprint, walk back repeat, this is a weird one so to not look crazy you can just sprint uphill walk back repeat.
- 400m/500m is pace race where only doing hundreds of them and knowing yourself is going to help.
- Sprinters get better results from doing lots of leg work in the gym, heavy, explosive, heavy, explosive.
- Move your arms and develop them, you can only move your legs as fast as you move your arms so they have to be as strong as your legs.
- Core is also super important and having rock hard abs to stabilize everything helps to see results.
 
@Scary_Turtle thanks will probably need a couple of weeks training before I attempt the segments, hammys are not what they use to be . Will improving your sprint speed have a negative impact on the longer runs 20-30 km e.g. cramping more often ?
 
gifs said:
You have plenty of time before Soweto to get ready for a half marathon. The longest run I ever did before my first half marathon was 13km. What I would suggest is that you incorporate one long run every weekend. You can start with 10k in week 1 and follow some sort of progression like this:
Week 1 - 10k
Week 2 - 11k
Week 3 - 12k
Week 4 - 10k
Week 5 - 11k
Week 6 - 12k
Week 7 - 13k
Week 8 - 11k
Week 9 - 12k
Week 10 - 13k
Week 11 - 14k
Week 12 - 12k
Week 13 - 13k
Week 14 - 14k
Week 15 - 15k
Week 16 - 13k
Week 17 - Race day

Supplement that with a couple of shorter runs in the week and you will be golden. You can incorporate some intervals and hill repeats for variation and building speed and strength, starting off slowly and following a similar weekly progression.

You will notice that the distance increases slowly, then every 4th week reduces to allow you to recover.

If you look around online you will find plenty of 16-week long beginner's half marathon training plans. And guess what, just over 16 weeks till Soweto marathon.
Click to expand...
I just might steal that program, thanks.
 
L-Dog said:
@Scary_Turtle thanks will probably need a couple of weeks training before I attempt the segments, hammys are not what they use to be . Will improving your sprint speed have a negative impact on the longer runs 20-30 km e.g. cramping more often ?
Click to expand...

Not going to lie I have only recently got back into running and have only ever run 18km once so I'm probably not the best person to ask.

I do about 20-40% strength to 60-80% endurance, I can't keep up with running everyday its too hard on my body but I can mix in a slow jog with muscle training on the "down days" and my times have got better and better.

I guess if you look at usain bolt - hezekial sepeng bodies, they both train very differently to achieve their goals but I don't think a bit of strength training is going to hurt especially on the uphills.
 
Strength work is just as important for distance running. Adding sprints to your training will also improve your long distance performance.

Typically you want to do your strength work in the gym in 3 sets of 6-8 reps only. Which means you need to use heavy weights so that you can only just complete the set.

I focus on the following exercises in the gym once a week:
- Seated calf raises
- Standing calf raises
- Deadlifts
- Leg press
- Leg curls

Supplement with some core work and stability exercises like single leg unweighted deadlifts, single leg squats etc.
 
Last edited:
Does a sub-25 min 5K count if it was part of a longer run? Anyway, I'm claiming a 24.06 new PB.
 
Decent Bastille 35k, slower than last year thanks to Trevor's new "interesting” route for crossing a weir below the dam. First there was the 10m wide ankle deep, fast flowing water on slippery concrete then a 1.6m high concrete wall.Screenshot_20190714-142914.jpeg
 
mental! man i wish my legs would come right now :(

what do you guys suggest? maybe a chriho or pyhsio? or just a doctor first?
 
Steamy Tom said:
mental! man i wish my legs would come right now :(

what do you guys suggest? maybe a chriho or pyhsio? or just a doctor first?
Click to expand...
Physio that understands running injuries. They can then refer you to sports doctors if needed along with running specific core strengthening which is key to address injuries.
 
ChrisJ said:
Physio that understands running injuries. They can then refer you to sports doctors if needed along with running specific core strengthening which is key to address injuries.
Click to expand...

do you think medical aid will cover it or only with a referral?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X