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Full Video Transcript

Introduction to Sprinting for Endurance Athletes

let’s outline one workout that is absolutely crucial to endurance performance but that few Runners and athletes do that is sprinting yes sprinting we’re going to break down what sprinting actually is how to incorporate it into your endurance running or training why you need to what it does physiologically and how to do it safely without getting hurt so let’s go into all this why in the world would an endurance athlete Sprint well

Defining a Sprint

first off let’s define a Sprint when I’m talking Sprint I am talking all out so all out in terms of track language not in terms of podcast or health influencer language what does that mean we’re talking something less than 100 m where you reach near Max velocity and then recover long enough so that you can do it again without getting fatigue when we’re talking about pure speed training Sprint training where we’re reaching near Max velocity fatigue is the enemy it gets in the way if you are getting tired or out of breath you are not recovering enough and you are going too long on the Sprints the goal is not to get fatigued you’re going to feel tired the next day or maybe sore the next day or the day after that’s a different kind of fatigue with in it not trying to get fatigued why would a distance Runner

Physiological Benefits of Sprinting

Sprint if you’re running a marathon or a 10K or half marathon or 5K why would you sprint it’s so much slower than that couple reasons so first off sprinting increases our muscle fiber recruitment pool so I’m going to simplify here but think of it like this we have all these muscle fibers some of which are more slow twitch oriented meaning they’re better and more efficient at slower easier Paces working aerobically some are more fast twitch orientated meaning they’re quick reactive they give a lot of power but they fatigue really quickly and then we have a lot in between okay in all of our muscles we have a mixture even Elite marathoners have some fast twitch orientated muscle fibers but what we know is we need to essentially use it or lose it when it comes to recruiting the fibers so there’s this when we talk about recruitment what we’re talking about is the the message that goes from the brain all the way down to the muscle that says hey activate this fiber we need it and what generally happens is we activate or utilize the easier to recruit fibers first so slow twitch fibers etc etc it’s called Hamman size principle we don’t need to go into it but that’s what we do the greater the force demand or the greater the the output demand even if there’s some fatigue involved then we start recruiting harder to recruit fibers more of the mixed in between fast twitch slow twitch Blends and then the fast twitch oriented fibers so to really recruit to increase our recruitment pool is we’re saying hey we want to be able to activate and utilize all the muscle fibers we have in there because if I went out and I did uh 800 M at marathon pace I’m making this up off the top of my head but maybe I only recruit 40% of my muscle fibers to utilus if I extend that out and say hey I’m going to go all the way at marathon pace eventually I recruit more than that because some of my muscle fibers is easy to recruit slow twitch fibers you know fatigue you cycle in you through different ones to carry the load as fatigue and energy kind of Runs Out Etc so maybe we get up to 70 80% of the fibers maybe higher of the fibers get recruited right even though we’re not going that fast because we have to bring them in to handle the load to sustain the force going but the other way to do this again is to give a very high neural demand of saying this is going to require a lot of force a lot of power into the ground that’s called sprinting and what we know is if we ingrain or activate or recruit those muscle fibers it makes it where we can do it again so if we never send that signal our brain goes like H I’m never recruiting that Bast twitch fiber so like don’t make that signal very strong or over time we’re going to convert this down to intermediate fiber because like we don’t use that fast twitch fiber much so what we want to do is just kind of remind our body hey we need to be able to recruit these fibers because that increases our fiber pool so that as I talked about during the marathon or during the 10K or mile as our easier to recruit fibers are failing or running out of fuel we have more to call in to keep that force or power up again I’m simplifying a lot but that analogy helps you understand what we’re looking at from muscle fiber recruitment so we need to te train our brain and then our muscles to hey we need to activate fire so we can increase the recruitable size of the pools so that we can call upon them either to run really fast or to pitch in when fatigued or to transport fuel through another mechanism to other fibers so that we can keep going okay so sprinting trains that why it’s a high neural demand activ AC ity because we’re putting a hell of a lot of force into the ground in a very short amount of time that’s it and it’s specific to running because it’s running the other thing that is really important as is it’s the most specific plyometric or strength training activity we can do again recruit a lot of muscle fibers high power component you’re literally putting all of that Force into the ground in about a a tenth of a second cuz that’s how long your foot is on the ground so it says strength activity it’s one of the reasons why sprinters look jacked even those not as much but even those who don’t lift weights they still have large especially mus legs larger muscles that are well defined because it’s a very specific speed power activity when you sprint so if you’re saying hey I don’t go to the weight room as much as maybe I should guess what you can get some not all but some of those benefits literally from sprinting okay so that’s number two number three from a performance standpoint what it does is it gives us a bigger speed Gap so think of it like this if I go down to the track and I can run 100 meters all out in 14 seconds I’m going to have a really hard time running a uh 2 minute 800 which is at 15 seconds why cuz the gap between my Peak speed for 100 m and the PE the speed I’m I’m trying to sustain is so small that even if I have fantastic endurance that Gap is probably too small so what I need to do is increase that Gap the differential between my Peak speed and my 400 800 mile Etc the more room I have the easier it is to then transition and say okay speed is no longer the limiting factor there’s a big enough Gap now I can work on the the endurance or capacity side to be able to lengthen my ability to stay near that speed for longer we need that Gap all training is playing with the different kinks in the pipes am I limited on the speed side is there a big enough Gap or not or am I limited on the endurance side can I extend my ability to last at this pace for longer and as you improve as an athlete you’re Shifting the training Focus to deal with a different kink in the pipe as your performance shifts and changes because we need that gap between our 100 and our 400 our 400 and 800 our 800 and our mile our Mile and our 5K Etc and depending on where that Gap is limited we need to address it but at the basic gist of it we need a big big enough speed gap between our Sprint speed and whatever else we’re doing okay sprinting help increases that cap okay so we understand that so how do

Building a Neuromuscular Speed Base

we apply this so here’s how I like to think of it in endurance running we traditionally think of we need to build a base is correct right we’ve known this says Pavo nmy went on long walks as I outlined in the history video that I did not too long ago we known this since Arthur lyer had said hey go run your 100 miles a week and build your aerobic Foundation science backs it up we understand this build a base what we haven’t done as well is explain that we also need a base on the other side of the coin we need a neuromuscular speed base why because of the things I just outlined we got to activate the muscle fibers before we can train them or utilize them to help us withstand the fatigue we’ve got to build that mechanical or neuromuscular base so that we can move at a fast speed before we become efficient or it helps us become efficient at slower speeds so when we look at speed or Sprint training it builds that Foundation just like easy running does now you might think well wait a minute I’ve been told high-intensity work or speed work is icing on the cake it is Sprint training is not high-intensity training what because Sprint training if Done Right causes a lot lot of neural fatigue and some muscular fatigue but it does not cause high acidosis fatique which is what we generally think of when we think of doing our high-intensity short fast work with short rest okay or moderate rest Sprint training as I mentioned at the beginning is about doing something very short with lots of recovery so that fatigue doesn’t creep in during the thing that’s it so it’s not high intensity it’s its own separate thing okay Sprint training when we look at how to implement this there’s a couple of different things we need to do at first before I’m going to explain to you what a Sprint training session looks like for endurance athlete first is we need to minimize the injury risk because if you’re going sprinting at near Max there’s an injury risk pulling something straining something creating some sort of tendonitis around things because it’s a

Implementing Sprint Training Safely

high load it might not be a high volume but it’s a high demand load on the body so what does this mean we need to be prepared before we start sprinting this looks at a couple different things first mechanically sprinting is a skill it’s a skill swinging a bat doing a other things it’s a skill we need to learn and develop what that means is we need to work on our running mechanics and formed now this isn’t the video for running mechanics in form I promise I’m going to do one soon working on it so we’ll go over it all in there but the basic gist is you have to have some general idea of how to sprint that means what you’re trying to do in terms of Landing pushing extending the hip relax shoulders all the stuff that we’re going to go through okay to keep it simple here I’m going to say this is when we look at sprinting it should not be the tense up straining we need to look at how do we go fast as we can essentially while staying smooth okay fast and relaxed not fast and straining again I’ll come back to that in another video on the mechanics what I will say on this is the way to teach sprinting is to do first submax running so strides which we’ll get to as well is a great example strides where we start at maybe mile Pace get a little faster long rest non- fatiguing get a little faster holding good mechanics increasing our arm stroke or arm arm swing okay putting a little bit more Force into the ground while staying relaxed and learning how to do it in a submax way to build up to it okay it’s really important strides are a great thing the other thing from a mechanical standpoint is also from a strength standpoint have we prepared the body to be able to spread that means again using submax where we’re getting a little faster non- fatigue so we get used to running somewhat fast it also means strength training the way I like to look at it is have we prepared the things that are going to face a lot of load so so this is going to vary for each individual but you’re looking at Big movements like lunge matrixes Fern gatas squat Matrix Etc where we’re just preparing the body lower body especially for like larger movements that give us some sort of capacity all the way from our calf Achilles through our hamstring to be able to get used to handling some load then we transition to what I’d call Simple plyometrics where we get used to again being reactive and then handling a load starting with maybe like jump rope simple hops double hops single leg hops I don’t want to go too into details because it requires a separate YouTube video in itself but then looking at loading so some reactive almost Bosch like drills where we kind of load the body and get it to absorb the the force but the idea is we need to prepare the body to handle the load okay strength training and biomechanics the other thing I’ll say on strength training is when we think of running drills like the a skips B skips all those those are not running form drills in fact they probably won’t do anything for your running form in fact I’ll just say they won’t that’s what Tom tles coach of Carl Lewis Leo reell bunch of people taught me early in my career he said running drills AR aren’t form drills Vern gambetta another Mentor said running drills aren’t form drills they are specific strength exercises and he’s right what are those B skips or a skips they’re trying to prepare you and in fact this is what the originator of these drills said he was in uh Poland I believe training in the winter and he wanted some way to prepare and train without being able to Sprint all out in the cold winter so he came up with these drills they’re a way to prepare so those B skips where you’re kicking your leg out and kind of pulling back on it it’s training the hamstrings it’s a strength drill okay drills are a great way to prepare for strength they are not a great way to improve your running form cover that in our YouTube running video so there’s a little tease all right so we’ve prepped then how do we incorporate Sprint training for endurance athletes as I said you got to start with strides where we’re getting progressively faster so that we get used to running somewhat fast and then let’s say we’ve done all the prep the mechanics the strength training how do we incorporate this I love incorporating in on Hills first so

Hill Sprints: A Practical Guide

I pick a moderate Hill again not so steep because that shifts it to more of a strength exercise and less where you get that reactivity off the ground but a moderate or you know shallow Hill where we’re sprinting up it for between six and 8 Seconds and then taking several minutes 90 seconds Plus at least for most people two to three minutes between that’s a long time if you want more take more 68 seconds isn’t long the reason is this is because 68 seconds gives us time to get almost up to near Max in terms of Recruitment and force into the ground but not so much to deplete us if you look at our phoso creatine system in terms of energetics and if you look at fatigue the muscles it’s not enough to deplete it especially a distance Runner we recover that most of that ability within a couple minutes that’s why we cap it there that it’s not going to feel very long it shouldn’t feel very long why do we do up a up a hill it minimizes injury risk especially when we look at strains pulls hamstrings things like that why because you’re running up a hill so that shifts the mechanical load a little bit okay it also makes it where you’re not going to reach out with your lower leg because the hill you’re coming out of slant so your foot tends to hit in a better position and teaches you how to hit in a better position and puts the focus a little more on pushing into the ground which is what we want when we’re looking at training some of these Sprint mechanics stuff so what do I do you sprint up a hill 68 seconds start with maybe four extend to five to six at the high level maybe you get up to 8 or 10 with longer rest but most people I think around 6 to 8 maybe and that’s fine and that’s the workout now what I do is you got to again have a thorough warm up beforehand so with distance Runners I often sandwich this with mileage so maybe a longer warm-up 3 Mile warm-up do all your warm-up drills and activities and dynamic stretching then some strides then get into the hill Sprints and then a longer cool down 3 four five six miles whatever afterwards I love doing that okay you get a little bit volume especially with the longer longer cool down afterwards but we get we’re not fatigued going into the hill Sprints over time once you’ve got up to where you can handle again maybe 8 by 8 second Hill Sprints with a long rest in between then especially for track athletes we can start converting and shifting those to Flat Sprint what do I mean by that just get on the track start shorter again maybe 40 met excels we’re not going to hit Top Speed but 40 m excels 50 m excels 60 M excels somewhere in that range 60 80 m is what we’ll kind of top out at and develop our get used to Flat sprinting after we’ve developed the hill Sprints the reality is that’s important for if you’re training for the mile or maybe even 5K to do some of that stuff but if you’re looking at the longer distance stuff you’re probably fine with sticking with Hill Sprints and not doing flat Sprints because the injury risk does increase and the benefit probably isn’t there to transition over now with our middle distance athletes at some point we’ll probably do go from Pure speed to extend to speed endurance this is when we want to use a little bit of that fatigue so we go from doing 6X 60 M on the track to 100 m or 120s or 150s again with long rest low volume but now we’re converting what we are doing is converting that pure speed into speed endurance so think of it from working on our 100 to working on our 400 you can do the same thing on Hills a lot of times I’ll use this initially for Hills is going from 6 by 8 seconds to 6 by 12 seconds or 6X 15 seconds or 4X 20 seconds we’re working on extending from to make that speed go to speed endurance all right so we’ve gone over SP Sprint training mostly on Hills that’s where I’d stay for most people when and how often as I mentioned at the beginning if you want to build the speed base it’s actually you should do that neuromuscular base during your base phase so relatively early in the training cycle so when you’re doing mostly easy and this is what I love to

Maintaining Speed Base During Training Cycles

do for high school and college athletes but it applies to others is once we’ve built our mileage up a little bit then and we’ve included strides so it’s mileage and strides we’re coming off our break we built up we’re getting fit Etc then I’ll go once a week Hill Sprints and we’ll lengthen it out and it’s basically mileage and Hill Sprints maybe occasionally a steady run in there but that’s when you include this stuff to build that neuromuscular base okay now what happens is during as we get closer to the season whether that’s cross country getting ready for 5K or 10K or getting ready for a half marathon or whatever your road race you’re doing is what we want to do is then just maintain it and basically with Hill Sprints or maintenance of anything you you need to do it maybe once every 3 weeks some sometimes once every two weeks maybe for a middle distance athlete but basically once every 3 weeks take a easy or moderate day make them be Hill Sprints and it’ll be good and this is the advantage here too is once you adapt to Hill Sprints not so much flat Sprints but once you adapt to Hill Sprints they often make you feel better a couple days later than neurally fatigued or muscular muscularly fatigued why because they increase the popping your legs so once you’ve adapted sometimes you can do this on a Wednesday before a Saturday cross country meet and it’ll make your legs feel really good cuz you’ve increased what you’ve done is you’ve increased the muscle tension got some pop in there as long as you’re not doing too many five six if you’re used to an 8 10 5 six by 8C Hill Sprints legs feel springy poppy you’ve recruited a lot of fast switch fibers feel good race day comes around you got some pop in your legs and you’re raring to go that’s only once you’ve adapted so there you go that’s Sprint training for distance Runners not a lot of recreational even high school Runners Sprint a distance Runner Sprint as much as they should I used this stuff when I was competing at a high level ronado Kenova famous for including Hill Sprints all the way back to Arthur lyard used

Conclusion and Additional Resources

Sprints as well and he used Hills and Hill bounding to prep for those Sprints so long history of doing it at the highest level just make sure you’re doing it safely and that’s why I think prepare for it we’ll include a video in a couple weeks on running mechanics to help you dial in in and do it smartly and it will increase your performance and improve your endurance capacity it also improves efficiency and economy just in the same way that strength training does so has some of the benefits of strength training as well so until next time everybody that is my pitch on Sprint training and here’s my pitch my new book win the inside game it’s not about Sprint training although it does tell some stories related to it it’s about the mental side of performance and redefining how we look at striving and success that allows us to free us up to perform not only in our physical Pursuits like running but also in our life and work in meaningful Pursuits as well if you haven’t got it yet there’s a pre-order special that if you order this you get all sorts of bonus items including one is my 100 plus page cheat cheet guide to uh coaching the elements of coaching I call it never before released I’m not releasing it or selling it you only get it if you buy this book so you get two books for the price of one thanks for subscribing Thanks for liking sharing commenting I appreciate all the comments I’m working on some of the video suggestions you’ve you’ve given me again I’m just here to provide information we’re doing this the low cost low rent all truth all evidence-based stuff from years of experience and knowledge none of the performative junk that’s out there so I appreciate you supporting the channel and share it with others so thanks everybody till next time take care for