Check out this sprinting workout that combines acceleration development, speed training, and race modeling all into one workout. The goal of this workout is to not only develop the component parts of the sprint, such as acceleration and maximal velocity sprinting capabilities, but to also bring these qualities together into a single sprint from blocks so it can have the best transfer over to competitive performance.
Silos of Training
In the past, I've noticed that if my training days are split up to focus on one quality at a time, I have trouble seeing as much improvement in my overall race as I see in the component parts. For example I may improve at acceleration OR top speed, but I find it harder to see improvement in all qualities in a similar period of time.
I think that if we always put our training into clean boxes or silos, we do not get as much holistic development of the race as a whole as compared to if we combined different types of training into our sprinting workouts.
Building Acceleration Sprinting
The workout starts by utilizing resisted sprinting to develop acceleration. After a couple heavy sled pulls at a walking or jogging pace, I progressed into 2x30m sled sprints with 55 pounds of plate weight on the sprint sled. These are performed with 3-6 minutes rest depending on the goal of the workout.
Building Top Speed Sprinting
After performing the sled sprints, the workout moves on to doing flying 20 meter sprints, where the athlete accelerates over 30 meters from a walking or drop-in dynamic start into a 20 meter zone of maximal velocity sprinting. The goal of this is to learn what it feels like to smoothly accelerate into upright sprinting, and then to target maximal velocity capabilities with the top speed flying zone.
Athletes and coaches should review film between flying sprints to see if there are any minor adjustments needed that may benefit the subsequent sprints.
Building A Complete Race
The final sprints of this workout are 50 meter sprints performed from starting blocks. The goal here is to bring together both the skills of acceleration and maximal velocity sprinting into a full sprint from blocks. This mimics competition, and allows us to practice our sprinting skills in the context of what we would encounter in a race environment.