September Speed Workout
by Steve McGill

This time of year, speed work isn’t at the top of the list in terms of importance, but I feel it’s a good idea to get in speed work at least once a week, even in the off-season. If athletes don’t do any fast-twitch work for months at a time, it can be difficult to get those muscles firing once the time comes without risking injury. Now, the definition of “speed work” varies from coach to coach, but for me, it involves distances of no farther than 100 meters at the most, there is not an emphasis on heavy volume of reps, and there is an emphasis on full recovery periods. 

This month’s workout is one that I used with my athlete Brandon Johnson, who has been doing a lot of speed-endurance training during the week in addition to hurdle drilling with me on the weekends. Because his technique work has been going so well, it felt like we were ready to add some real speed to it. So, last weekend, we did the following workout:

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2 sets of: 20x30x40

• From a three-point start
• Walk-back recovery between reps
• Five minutes rest between sets

6 starts over the first hurdle

• From a block start
• 2-4 minutes rest between reps

In timing the sprint reps, the watch starts on movement, and it stops when the athlete’s torso crosses the finish line. I use a measuring wheel to measure the distances, and place two cones at the finish line for each distance. I like to time the reps, and to use the times as a benchmark as we do more speed work throughout the season. Also, the goal is for the athlete’s time to increase by no more than .15 (ideally, .10) as we add 10 meters to the distance. So, if he runs the 20m in 2.80, the goal for the 30m would be 3.80, and the goal for the 40m would be 4.80. 

For the hurdle reps, I like to time each rep and record each rep. If I have someone there to time for me, I can film, or vice versa. If I’m by myself, I’ll just film, and then record the times from the video. With the starts, the reason we’re going over only one hurdle is because we want to make sure we’re maximizing our speed to the first hurdle. Putting up more hurdles will give athletes who like to pick up speed later in the race to subconsciously run slower to the first hurdle, knowing they can crank into another gear further down the track. Also, the touchdown time to the first hurdle will let me know if we are putting ourselves in position to run the kind of times we want to run for the whole distance. 

With that being said, starting the watch on first movement means you’ll need to add a tenth to what the time would be with automatic timing. So, if I’m looking for a 2.4 to the first hurdle, I’ll want to see a 2.3 to the first hurdle off movement. If we’re not hitting the times we want, then we can look at the video between reps and see where we can improve.

So, even though this workout is a speed workout, the volume of reps is still higher than it would be during the competitive season. Six starts over the first hurdle is a lot after doing two sets of 20x30x40, and that’s perfectly fine. This time of year, we’re looking to introduce speed work back into the mix; we’re not looking to go all-out like we will in the spring. 

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