Taking up sprinting

Realt Dearg Sec

Just reading around the forum there and can't find anything really along these lines. I am not even sure if it's necessarily a good idea! But I was thinking of getting into sprinting, though I am approaching my mid 30s. Not for competition, obviously, I'm just interested in pursuing it for its own sake, to establish and then reduce a 100 and/or 200m sprint time as a goal for the next year.

What I'm wondering is if anyone can point me in the direction of a good programme to do this. I would have access to a fairly basic weight room and could find grass space on which to run. I would probably be able to train three or four times a week. Probably not in a position to join a club, would have to train near my house and be a bit flexible about when to train. My fitness level is fairly low at the moment, I was hurling regularly up until a year ago when I had to move abroad, where I've done only a bit of jogging. Recently quit smoking, to put in context the kind of level I'd be at.

So yeah, I know most of the queries here are about distance running, but I've always preferred sprinting, just as an end in itself. So any advice or pointing in the right direction would be much appreciated (I'm realistic about the limitations on what can be achieved, but it's something i want to do).

KielyUnusual

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Just reading around the forum there and can't find anything really along these lines. I am not even sure if it's necessarily a good idea! But I was thinking of getting into sprinting, though I am approaching my mid 30s. Not for competition, obviously, I'm just interested in pursuing it for its own sake, to establish and then reduce a 100 and/or 200m sprint time as a goal for the next year.

What I'm wondering is if anyone can point me in the direction of a good programme to do this. I would have access to a fairly basic weight room and could find grass space on which to run. I would probably be able to train three or four times a week. Probably not in a position to join a club, would have to train near my house and be a bit flexible about when to train. My fitness level is fairly low at the moment, I was hurling regularly up until a year ago when I had to move abroad, where I've done only a bit of jogging. Recently quit smoking, to put in context the kind of level I'd be at.

So yeah, I know most of the queries here are about distance running, but I've always preferred sprinting, just as an end in itself. So any advice or pointing in the right direction would be much appreciated (I'm realistic about the limitations on what can be achieved, but it's something i want to do).

Not a sprinter, more of a middle distance runner but I would recommend if at all possible to join a club. Sprinting is such a technical discipline that self teaching is probably not a great idea. You would also need lots of practice from blocks and the only way to get this is by having access to a track.

Where are you based?

There are a few sprinting logs on here and I'm sure you'd get plenty of advice from these guys too but it will probably boil down to needing to be part of a club as a basic requirement.

Braken

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Just reading around the forum there and can't find anything really along these lines. I am not even sure if it's necessarily a good idea! But I was thinking of getting into sprinting, though I am approaching my mid 30s. Not for competition, obviously, I'm just interested in pursuing it for its own sake, to establish and then reduce a 100 and/or 200m sprint time as a goal for the next year.

What I'm wondering is if anyone can point me in the direction of a good programme to do this. I would have access to a fairly basic weight room and could find grass space on which to run. I would probably be able to train three or four times a week. Probably not in a position to join a club, would have to train near my house and be a bit flexible about when to train. My fitness level is fairly low at the moment, I was hurling regularly up until a year ago when I had to move abroad, where I've done only a bit of jogging. Recently quit smoking, to put in context the kind of level I'd be at.

So yeah, I know most of the queries here are about distance running, but I've always preferred sprinting, just as an end in itself. So any advice or pointing in the right direction would be much appreciated (I'm realistic about the limitations on what can be achieved, but it's something i want to do).

There is a good program of Masters Athletics out there starting at 35 and sprinting would be part of it...

Chivito550

DIY sprinting is a bad idea. It's not like taking up jogging where you can throw on the runners and head out for a couple of km to start. Sprinting is very technical and you need a coach to oversea what you are doing, particularly when starting out when your form will be terrible and you are most susceptible to injury.

400m you could get away with a DIY approach for a short period of time. For my first season as a 400 runner I trained by myself as I could never make the club sessions. I did however join a club and raced frequently and got plenty of feedback off people in the club during this time.

I used this great document from Clyde Hart to help structure my training:

http://www.usatf.org/groups/coaches/library/2007/Sprint%20Training/Clyde_Hart3.pdf

I got injured from doing too much too soon and having poor core strength. In the end I progressed well by myself, mainly through lots of speed endurance work. But my form and flat out speed were shocking, so the only long term approach was to join a training group, get a coach and start gym work, and I've been doing that for 5 seasons since.

Join a club, simple as that.

Realt Dearg Sec

So...the consensus is I should join a club...

As I say, though, that's not actually practical for me in all probability. Ah well...thanks for the advice folks.

Chivito550

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

So...the consensus is I should join a club...

As I say, though, that's not actually practical for me in all probability. Ah well...thanks for the advice folks.

Sprinting is an art. You wouldn't try teaching yourself how to play tennis, archery, or golf. There's so much more to sprinting than just running as fast as you can.

If you are genuinely keen you'll find a way to join a club. If you don't have the time to, that's a pity. Could do with more sprinters in Ireland to be honest.

RayCun

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

So...the consensus is I should join a club...

As I say, though, that's not actually practical for me in all probability. Ah well...thanks for the advice folks.

It's very technical, so much of a 100m race is in the start. It would be like trying to teach yourself long jump or hammer, not impossible but very difficult. And then, to compete, you basically have to be in a club.
You wouldn't have to attend every training session, but you need some guidance

RuMan

Chivito550 wrote: »

DIY sprinting is a bad idea. It's not like taking up jogging where you can throw on the runners and head out for a couple of km to start. Sprinting is very technical and you need a coach to oversea what you are doing, particularly when starting out when your form will be terrible and you are most susceptible to injury.

400m you could get away with a DIY approach for a short period of time. For my first season as a 400 runner I trained by myself as I could never make the club sessions. I did however join a club and raced frequently and got plenty of feedback off people in the club during this time.

I used this great document from Clyde Hart to help structure my training:

http://www.usatf.org/groups/coaches/library/2007/Sprint%20Training/Clyde_Hart3.pdf

I got injured from doing too much too soon and having poor core strength. In the end I progressed well by myself, mainly through lots of speed endurance work. But my form and flat out speed were shocking, so the only long term approach was to join a training group, get a coach and start gym work, and I've been doing that for 5 seasons since.

Join a club, simple as that.

Are there many clubs that cater for sprinters as a matter of interest ? Talking about adults (including masters) now not kids ?

Chivito550

RuMan wrote: »

Are there many clubs that cater for sprinters as a matter of interest ? Talking about adults (including masters) now not kids ?

My personal opinion is that we have a poor setup in Ireland for adults who want to take up sprinting. Lots of big clubs don't have adult sprint groups, and many of the top top sprinters train in specific groups which are independant of any one club.

I also find that I come last in about half my races here, while in Australia there were far more people at mid and lower levels competing. Can be very frustrating to be honest. Even in London recently when I went over for an interclub meet I was in two super competitive races which was a lot of fun. Here it seems like often I'm only racing for time. Guess it depends on the meets though. Have had some races this year where there were guys at my level that I raced against. There's just not enough mid to lower level athletes doing sprinting IMO.

All that said, my club is great for adult sprinters who want to take up the sport. The adult sprint group I am in is not an elite group at all. Good athletes of course, but very welcoming and not intimidating IMO.

RayCun

It's the same with anything that isn't middle/distance running.
Try taking up jumping, hurdling, or throwing as an adult and it'll be hard enough to find other adults to train with (and pretty much impossible to find other beginners to train with)
But you could say the same about gymnastics, diving, even something like gaelic. There are few adult beginners, so no-one is set up to cater for them.

Chivito550

RayCun wrote: »

It's the same with anything that isn't middle/distance running.
Try taking up jumping, hurdling, or throwing as an adult and it'll be hard enough to find other adults to train with (and pretty much impossible to find other beginners to train with)
But you could say the same about gymnastics, diving, even something like gaelic. There are few adult beginners, so no-one is set up to cater for them.

You are correct with field events, though again in my club we have a coach who used to be a national champion heptathlete and she coaches tons of events and all seniors are welcome. I joined in the long jump group for awhile (until my horrendous injury).

Not sure I'd agree with regards Gaelic Football. I know tons of people who just decided to randomly get back into things like football, hurling, soccer and they are in a team straight away. They just went to their local club, showed up at sessions and were on a team, because they have so many levels of players playing those sports.

I guess the more niche and technical and less mainstream the sport the harder it is to get into as an adult. But in Melbourne it was so easy to get into sprinting as an adult, so it's not the same everywhere. I'm not sure I'd be a sprinter today if I hadn't moved there. I may have been put off by coming last by a mile in the early days, while down there there was always somebody to race against.

davedanon

So, let me get this straight. You want there should be more mediocre sprinters?

Clearlier

davedanon wrote: »

So, let me get this straight. You want there should be more mediocre sprinters?

Why not? I'll bet there's a fair few people who would go out training if there was the equivalent of mass participation road races available for sprinters. The point being made is that at the moment, in Ireland, sprinting is elitist and it would be nice if there was a bit more mass participation. I'd see that as a pretty good thing overall.

davedanon

Clearlier wrote: »

Why not? I'll bet there's a fair few people who would go out training if there was the equivalent of mass participation road races available for sprinters. The point being made is that at the moment, in Ireland, sprinting is elitist and it would be nice if there was a bit more mass participation. I'd see that as a pretty good thing overall.

I was just trolling. As you do.

RuMan

Seems to be a few of those mile events now so maybe we'll get more sprints.

Found that Clyde Hart link interesting , thanks for that.
Could do with a change from my long distance running. Sprints or buy a bike/wetsuit decsisons , decisions

Wasn't Brush shields going for some 100m* record there a while back ?!!

average_runner

Clearlier wrote: »

Why not? I'll bet there's a fair few people who would go out training if there was the equivalent of mass participation road races available for sprinters. The point being made is that at the moment, in Ireland, sprinting is elitist and it would be nice if there was a bit more mass participation. I'd see that as a pretty good thing overall.

To get the mass numbers into sprinting, the clubs and runners need to open themselves up alot more. Don't get me wrong, some clubs are very open which is brillant, but don't have the coaches for all track events.

You see it on this forum, when someone runs x:xx for a race and is delighted with it, some people will say its not an achievement, this then puts off people off from joining clubs, hence the clubs miss out on the kids coming up.

Also the whole meetings schedule of track racing in Ireland for kids is wrong. No kid wants to spend a whole day at a track waiting on one race. They get bored and give up on running.

That's my two cent on why sprinting and track running is struggling here, some of it is feedback from parents that I have talked to, after their kids gave up running for hockey etc.

IvoryTower

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

So...the consensus is I should join a club...

As I say, though, that's not actually practical for me in all probability. Ah well...thanks for the advice folks.

In that case, I would join a club just so you can enter races(the dublin graded series would be perfect, cater for all standards). They'll probably have a fb/whatapp message group of some sort where you can find out what workouts theyre doing and try to replicate them on a local football pitch/park.

I used blocks for the first time just by watching a video on youtube, they're surprisingly easy to use(while tricky to master).

Chivito550

davedanon wrote: »

So, let me get this straight. You want there should be more mediocre sprinters?

I think sprinting should be more accessible. The bigger the base of a pyramid, the higher the peak. Astonishing how so many just do not get this.

average_runner

Chivito550 wrote: »

I think sprinting should be more accessible. The bigger the base of a pyramid, the higher the peak. Astonishing how so many just do not get this.

Agree, you see the kids playing soccer and other sports with some great speed, if we could just get these kids and develop them.

IvoryTower

davedanon wrote: »

I was just trolling. As you do.

he was messin'

RayCun

Clearlier wrote: »

Why not? I'll bet there's a fair few people who would go out training if there was the equivalent of mass participation road races available for sprinters.

Scheduling is always a problem though. If my local parkrun has 50 runners on Saturday, it will start at 9.30 and end around 10.15. If 150 people, or 250 people, turn up, maybe there'll be a minute or two delay at the start, and maybe the stragglers will be in a bit later, but it's be basically the same. Sprint races don't scale the same way.

(which leads to the problem average_runner mentioned. Cross country races for kids might not be on time, but they won't be way off. Track and field meets, if they don't have strict pre-registration rules, can be hours late)

Chivito550

RayCun wrote: »

Scheduling is always a problem though. If my local parkrun has 50 runners on Saturday, it will start at 9.30 and end around 10.15. If 150 people, or 250 people, turn up, maybe there'll be a minute or two delay at the start, and maybe the stragglers will be in a bit later, but it's be basically the same. Sprint races don't scale the same way.

(which leads to the problem average_runner mentioned. Cross country races for kids might not be on time, but they won't be way off. Track and field meets, if they don't have strict pre-registration rules, can be hours late)

When you rarely have more than 3 heats of a men's 100m on an athletics programme then scheduling is not much of an issue. I was running in a London interclub meet recently and they had 16 100m races and 13 200m races. Everything worked fine.

RayCun

Chivito550 wrote: »

When you rarely have more than 3 heats of a men's 100m on an athletics programme then scheduling is not much of an issue. I was running in a London interclub meet recently and they had 16 100m races and 13 200m races. Everything worked fine.

My point is, in a distance race, you don't need to worry about the numbers turning up. For sprint races, more people means more races means more time needed.

Suppose, at the interclub meet, they had a schedule that said 100m races start at 7, 200s start at 7.30. That would allow time for about six 100m races. Or they could have a schedule that says 100m races start at 7, and 200m races start at 8.30, leaving time for 16 100m races.

If you don't know how many races there will be, your schedule becomes meaningless, and people get pissed off.
But to know how many races there will be, you need preregistration, and people get pissed off about that ("I came all this way and now you won't let me race?!?")

Distance races, where there is a single start, don't have that problem.

average_runner

RayCun wrote: »

My point is, in a distance race, you don't need to worry about the numbers turning up. For sprint races, more people means more races means more time needed.

Suppose, at the interclub meet, they had a schedule that said 100m races start at 7, 200s start at 7.30. That would allow time for about six 100m races. Or they could have a schedule that says 100m races start at 7, and 200m races start at 8.30, leaving time for 16 100m races.

If you don't know how many races there will be, your schedule becomes meaningless, and people get pissed off.
But to know how many races there will be, you need preregistration, and people get pissed off about that ("I came all this way and now you won't let me race?!?")

Distance races, where there is a single start, don't have that problem.

Maybe the registration process should use modern technology, via the web etc.

So then people can sign up and just turn up at the meet at 3pm if that's when their race is on.
Your kid can then run the race and go home instead of spending the whole day there.

RayCun

average_runner wrote: »

Maybe the registration process should use modern technology, via the web etc.

So then people can sign up and just turn up at the meet at 3pm if that's when their race is on.
Your kid can then run the race and go home instead of spending the whole day there.

The national juvenile championships run on time, or at least much more so than county championships and the track and field leagues.

This is because

• at the nationals, there are a limited number of people who can compete, and they have to be entered well in advance. That means the organisers know how many are competing and can draw up an accurate schedule
• all of the officials are identified in advance, volunteers are not required on the day

When it comes to nationals, you're usually dealing with the most motivated kids and parents. They know/decide well in advance if they are going.
County competitions are like herding cats.
In the leagues, you are trying to encourage people to compete, so allowing registration on the day removes some barriers.

Getting officials is a constant problem. Coaches want to coach, parents want to watch, officiating is always left to the same few people and a few more dragged in on the day.

average_runner

RayCun wrote: »

The national juvenile championships run on time, or at least much more so than county championships and the track and field leagues.

This is because

• at the nationals, there are a limited number of people who can compete, and they have to be entered well in advance. That means the organisers know how many are competing and can draw up an accurate schedule
• all of the officials are identified in advance, volunteers are not required on the day

When it comes to nationals, you're usually dealing with the most motivated kids and parents. They know/decide well in advance if they are going.
County competitions are like herding cats.
In the leagues, you are trying to encourage people to compete, so allowing registration on the day removes some barriers.

Getting officials is a constant problem. Coaches want to coach, parents want to watch, officiating is always left to the same few people and a few more dragged in on the day.

Never been to the juveniles nationals, so for those you can just turn up 45 mins before the race ?

The nationals might be the most dedicated, but not the best, could of lost the best because of the way things are done.
If people could just turn up 45 mins before a race, it would improve things.

RayCun

You have to check in in advance, times vary, could be more sometimes. But you'd want to be there at least 45 minutes early anyway if you are competing

roseybear

I've been living in the North east of England the past couple of years and decided to a few graded meets this summer - you pay £12 at the start of the league to get your number and you keep that for the whole season. no checking in before the race, just turn up on the line at the start time. I wanted to do 400s, so they just call out who's looking to do sub 60, sub 65, etc, etc, mixed male and female races and you fly through the programme, get your time after, and off you go. Same goes for all races and events. Really increased the numbers of adults in the sprints as it was no pressure, a lot even did the sprints then a 1500 or whatever a little after. Iv a big history in athletics and it reminded me of the juvenile leagues back in the day where you used to just jump in to all events, be great if the same kinda thing was brought in here.

Chivito550

roseybear wrote: »

I've been living in the North east of England the past couple of years and decided to a few graded meets this summer - you pay £12 at the start of the league to get your number and you keep that for the whole season. no checking in before the race, just turn up on the line at the start time. I wanted to do 400s, so they just call out who's looking to do sub 60, sub 65, etc, etc, mixed male and female races and you fly through the programme, get your time after, and off you go. Same goes for all races and events. Really increased the numbers of adults in the sprints as it was no pressure, a lot even did the sprints then a 1500 or whatever a little after. Iv a big history in athletics and it reminded me of the juvenile leagues back in the day where you used to just jump in to all events, be great if the same kinda thing was brought in here.

Yeh that's pretty much what it is like in Melbourne too. You got your number at the start of the year and used it for every meet that season. The interclub meets didn't require any pre entry. You just showed up and ran, they took your number after the race, banged it into a computer and your name pops up and they match it up to your lane on the photo finish.