Rest and Speed

Sprint Training

Running mechanics and technical efficiency are very important in many sports, sprinting is one of them. In fact many people envision sprint training as high intensity, non-stop pace, similar to what you’ll see in a BS fitness media show (biggest loser).

Rest!

If you take the time to watch a track practice, specifically watching the sprinters, you’ll see most of them warming up a good bit of the time and NOT running, sprinting, jogging or what have you, nearly as much. This is because sprinting takes a LOT out of  both the neuromuscular and muscular skeletal system. While cardiovascularly you may recover quickly, your body (nervous system) may not be fully prepared to run at 100%. Rest periods vary from training session and development of the athlete, sometimes you may see a sprinter take a 10-15minute rest period. They of course will not be sitting on their butt for the whole 10-15minutes, the time utilized may have some active/dynamic stretches in there, but never the less they are recovering. Depending on the phase and athlete, times vary but if you’re training on your own the key is to focus on technical efficiency. If your technique is starting to breakdown you may need a longer rest period or need to lower the amount of ground touches and/or speed percentages. Understanding this fundamental concept is very crucial for long term and short term development of a sprinter and athlete.