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Sprinting for the first time. Please provide advice (Read 138 times)

Teddy Lo


    Hi Everyone

     

    I am 38 years old and I timed myself doing the 100 meter sprint at 16 seconds and the 40 yard dash at 6.30 seconds

     

    Is that a normal time for my age ? I started-sprinting recently.

     

    please let me know


    Latent Runner

      Hi Everyone

       

      I am 38 years old and I timed myself doing the 100 meter sprint at 16 seconds and the 40 yard dash at 6.30 seconds

       

      Is that a normal time for my age ? I started-sprinting recently.

       

      please let me know

       

      I would venture to say that there is "no normal" for your age for those distances.  I'm betting I could walk the floor here at my office and come up with folks in their 50s who could smoke you in the 40 and the 100 while at the same time find lots of 20-somethings you could beat.

       

      As for "sprinting"; are you doing other running related workouts?  If not, then there is a pretty good chance your sprinting career will be short lived as you're going to end up getting hurt.

      Fat old man PRs:

      • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
      • 2-mile: 13:49
      • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
      • 5-Mile: 37:24
      • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
      • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
      • Half Marathon: 1:42:13


      an amazing likeness

        I'm not certain how anyone could say if a time is "normal".  There's a bell curve for sprint times, just as there is for other distances.

        Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

        Teddy Lo


          I do play basketball about two times a week and I have been swimming for 8 years, and I also stretch every time before I sprint.

           

          I enjoy sprinting, and feel that I can improve my time. Just was not sure if I am really slow or average at this stage.


          Latent Runner

            I do play basketball about two times a week and I have been swimming for 8 years, and I also stretch every time before I sprint.

             

            I enjoy sprinting, and feel that I can improve my time. Just was not sure if I am really slow or average at this stage.

             

            IMHO, you are not doing enough "base" work to support any kind of sprinting, and like as not, you will get injured.  The swimming is irrelevant as it does nothing to prepare the body for enduring the rigors of running, and while basketball helps a bit, that too is insufficient for building your base.  Based upon what you've written, it sounds like you need to put some regular longer/slower workouts into your routine.

            Fat old man PRs:

            • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
            • 2-mile: 13:49
            • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
            • 5-Mile: 37:24
            • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
            • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
            • Half Marathon: 1:42:13
            Teddy Lo


              Thanks Shipo, basically a routine jog will suffice? I have to say, I dislike running for a long duration of time , more than a quarter of mile is an example.

               

              If you have any other exercise regiments, please let me know.

               

              I do also eat a well balanced diet and wear the appropriate clothing and footwear when I sprint, so that should help.  Hopefully I would like to compete in a track event for my age group.

              TJoseph


                I don't think distance training would do a lot to prevent injuries while sprinting or help much with sprinting performance.  I think most sprinters train at short distances and lift weights, but I have never trained for distances shorter than a mile myself.  While this is a running forum, almost everyone that posts here are distance runners.

                  I don't think distance training would do a lot to prevent injuries while sprinting or help much with sprinting performance.  I think most sprinters train at short distances and lift weights, but I have never trained for distances shorter than a mile myself.  While this is a running forum, almost everyone that posts here are distance runners.

                   

                  Agreed.  Base building for sprinters does not mean running lots of mileage. Sprinters do hardly any of what we would consider easy running. Some coaches do a progress from what they call long sprints (800s, 600s, 500s, 400s) and weights up to 4x a week in base phase to, as they get close to competition reduce the distance of the sprint work down toward 100 and 200, and reduce the number of days they do weights.

                  Runners run

                  Teddy Lo


                    Makes more sense to emphasize short sprints for the proper training.

                     

                    As far as weight training, bench pressing and squats?

                     

                    What would be ideal? cutting my speed from 16 seconds to about 12 seconds in the 100 meter is a challenge, but going to 5 seconds in the 40 yard dash seems achievable in a short period of time.

                      Hard to time yourself accurately. I'm 48, male, and in HS ran 12.5 and wasn't fast enough to run that event in varsity, so got trained in 110 and 400 hurdles, and was fast enough to win races around 58 in the 400 hurdles, but not all-city fast. Don't know my 100 time now, but 16 wouldn't surprise me. Hopefully not worse, and I would try for 14 as reasonable eventually when I finish losing weight, as a guess. I doubt someone could run 12 at age 38 unless they ran 11 in HS, and that 11 would have been a winner at most of my HS's races

                       

                      To train, run 400, rest, 200, rest, 100, rest. Repeat if you can. Next day run steps (stairs), then run a couple 400s. Next day, run a couple 40's, work on starts, then run an easy 800. Next day run a mile. In between, do squats, squat thrusts, lift weights with your legs (even ankle weights for that lifting, instead of actual weights if you don't have them will help, but don't run in weights). Jumping jacks and other plyos are good.

                       

                      You want strength and explosive power. You need enough cardio too.

                       

                      I'm just trying to give you an idea on where to focus. It is not an all comprehensive list.
                      Teddy Lo


                        Thanks for all of the tips and advice everyone. I will incorporate this into my workout, once the weather gets warmer here in NJ.

                        scappodaqui


                        rather be sprinting

                          Lifting weights will really help with sprint speed.  You mentioned squats--that's a good start.  Benching?  Not as important.  The gold standard exercise for sprinters is the power clean, but that can be tough to do without coaching.  I also am a big fan of things like controlling tempo on lifts to develop explosiveness specifically. Speed squats, etc.  Also some single-leg stuff is more running-specific, like step ups (akin to running stairs) and split squats.

                           

                          And plyos... but be careful with plyos.  Don't do too much at once.  People make them into aerobic exercise and that's not ideal.  Depth jumps, for instance, should be used veeeery sparingly if at all in an older-than-30 athlete, according to most coaches I've talked to.  It's just pretty easy to get hurt.

                           

                          Final thing, do you work on your starts specifically, i.e. falling start or start from pushup position?  I learned to sprint kind of late and did not know how to start; these helped.

                          PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56

                          Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb

                          mab411


                          Proboscis Colossus

                            Just curious, to what end are you concerned about sprinting?  Nothing wrong with it, I'm just not aware of a lot of races for people our age of less than a mile (not that racing is the only thing that gives an athletic activity a purpose).

                             

                            ...but there are a great many things I'm not aware of.

                            "God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people

                            scappodaqui


                            rather be sprinting

                              There are many Masters track meets out there, actually.  NYRR puts on two series a year, for instance, and they do include sprints (more often sprint relays, but sprints as well).  There are opportunities to race the 100, 200, 200/400 relay, the short leg of the DMR, etc.

                              PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56

                              Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb

                                ...but there are a great many things I'm not aware of.

                                 

                                True dat.

                                 

                                And dat.

                                Runners run

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