I coach at a distance school where the distance coaches love watching sprinters do (what appears to be) aerobic work. I’m pretty sure it’s a commonly held belief among distance coaches that doing long repeats/intervals make sprinters ‘mentally tough’.
It doesn’t. Special Endurance does.
But, when structured correctly, it does improve anaerobic threshold and that’s an important quality for young sprinters I’ll need to run 400/4×4, 400IH/4×4 or 200/200/4×4 at ‘no regard for human life’ paces in May and June.
While it’s true I have added one extra Tempo themed day to my 400/400h microcycle during the prep phases, my core philosophy for training sprinters remains the same:
Train slow, run slow. Train fast, run fast.
Sprinters frequently fumble the ball late in races. There are only 3 reasons this happens.
It is based on science, not opinion.
So, today, let us take a moment and review:
The Only 3 Reasons Your Sprinter Fall Apart at the End of Races.
When we know better, we can do better.
To your success,
Latif Thomas
Twitter: @latif_thomas
P.S. If you’re a coach, parent or athlete looking for a clinic this summer, register now for the Complete Track and Field Summer Clinic held July 19-20 at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.