Advice on sprinting faster.. for a 100m 200m runner?

Question

im a 16 year old male, i run the 100 and 200m for my high school track team, my 100 times are usually 12.1 -12.5 and 200m is 25.6 - 26.1, i do high intensity interval training 3 times a week, short sprints with a parachute, starts, agility ladder, hill sprints, and i run 3-5 miles 2 days a week with upper body lifting, any suggestions if this will work, or advice? =D

Answer 1

I will add a few things on to the holaaloha answer:

First, I agree with most everything there (great answer!).  Let's look at what you are doing.  3-5 miles training is counteractive to what you are doing.  This is developing your slow twitch muscles.  In fact, you can actually convert fast twitch muscle into slow twitch using this type of training.  There is very little evidence that you can convert slow twitch into fast twitch.  With the high intensity interval training, if you are not setting your rest ratios correctly, this can have the same training effect as your distance training.

The 100 and 200 are sprints.  Pure and simple.  You need to be doing things to make you faster.  Efficiency and power. Efficiency = good form (look at other answer - DORSIFLEX!).  Foot should be landing 4-6 inches in front of your body and heel is a credit card distance from the ground.  This will make you use your glutes and hamstrings vs your quad.  The more muscle fibers your recruit, the more power you can put into the ground (newton's law!)

Power:  cleans and snatches for power!  Squats for power.  No more than 10 reps per set and give yourself at least 60-90 seconds rest between sets.  You may have 3-6 sets of 3-8 reps.  We are looking for power not bodybuilding!  Do ab work too especially the obliques.  Upper body is ok, but only 15% of the work in running is done by arms.  Depending on what you are doing, you are better off utilizing your time better in full body exercises (cleans, snatches).

Hill sprints are going to work on your quads more.  Also you are going to learn a different set of neuron firing pattern than when you run on the track.  This is the same as the parachute.  Use these infrequently.  Agility ladder can be beneficial.  On linear movements, focus on dorsiflexion and balls of the feet.  On lateral movement focus on edges.  The 200 is all about the edges of the feet inside and outside for the first 100m.  

Be careful not to succumb to overtraining.  If you do too much without rest, you can actually take major steps backwards.  As you get closer to in season, you will be doing less sets/reps of everything to closer to race pace.

Good luck!

Answer 2

give your current program time. i would not do so much milage per week from mid season to the end.

Answer 3

make sure when you work out your not doing to much of heavy lifting because then  you could just be building up your red slow twitch muscles instead of your white fast twitch muscles that sprinters need, also working on your form, and staying low to the ground when you get out of the blocks.

Answer 4

yeah from what your telling me it is probably your form. this might help...

warm up. you could pull a muscle in this race if you don't stretch properly.

these races are mostly about pure speed so 3 important parts to this race is getting out of the blocks (or just starting) quickly, your form while running, and your reflexes.

for reflexes... try parachute training. the internet will provide you will all the information for that

for blocks...There are 2 parts to getting out of the blocks quicker:

First: reflexes. to help with this you could do parachute training out of the blocks. have someone hold the parachute while they give you commands.

Second: form. first of all make sure your position in the blocks is comfortable for you. when the official says 'set' you want to lean forward and lock your elbows (your arms will thus be straight. its up to you how you position your fingers but they should be horizontal to the line.

When they say 'go':

1) you want to reach triple extension before you even take your first step. what is this? stand up right now and do some high knees... high enough that your ankles go above the knee of the opposite foot. it will feel slow at first but doing this gives you a powerful first step guarenteed.

2)your ankle should be dorsi-flexed

3) you drive one arm up and forward (thrust them because you need the momentum) in a 90 degree angle while the other hand thrust back and forward in a 90 degree angle.

4)you exit the block at a 45 degree angle

5) you gradually become upright within the first 15-25 m. if you get up too quickly... you kill your momentum

for form while running:

Arms: locked at 90 degrees. thrust forward and up and back and up. your hands should go no higher than your head after coming out of the blocks

Hands: relaxed (straight or loosely cupped...whatever works for you)

Head: straight and steady (to help with this focus on a point directly in your lane but past the finish line)

Whole body: should be relaxed. this is hard but if you strain your wasting energy that could be used more efficiently to generate speed. slight lean forward. raised hips. raise chest. somewhat straight back. sit in a chair tall and straight: how your elders tell you to sit. this is how your upper body should be during the race

Feet: dorsiflexed and you are running on the balls of your feet

Legs: think of your legs as a piston... with each step you are driving up and over the knee of the opposite leg. exaggerate this during practice but during the race just run... it will eventually become natural. limit backside mechanics meaning your legs should extend too far back while running. this will limit your speed.

Go to youtube and type in 100m sprints. this will give you a visual of what most of this stuff looks like.

im also a 16 yr. old male. ive found that form has dropped my time down a lot. now my 100 times are no less than 11.5 and my 200 times are no less than 24 seconds. where i live its still not great but i  plan on being nasty my senior year like olympics worthy amazing

Answer 5

I used to run in high school as well. One time we had a sprint coach from Purdue who also worked for the US Olympic team a couple times. The best advice he gave me is to look in the mirror and practice swinging your arms close to your body. I know that sounds a little ridiculous, but I did it and it really works. Part of a lot of people's problems are they have their arms to far out and it slows them down. Swing your arms so your wrist come VERY close if not skim across your hips. Keep going with your routine and add this and you should see improvement.