Practice runs are great but for speed work is a different animal. I have had great results with this workout I found a while ago while rushing into shape for basketball season. It was written for athletes who had been injured and needed to get back into shape quickly, but it will do wonders for your speed work... It's a killer.
Dr. Woldemar Gerschler coached Rudolph Harbig to a world 800m record in1939, and the record stood for 16 years. He also advised the late GordonPirie, who broke records for the 3000m and 5000m in the 1950s. Gerschleroutraged the running fraternity by announcing: ‘Steady running is wasteful of effort and inefficient.’ He went on to claim that with his interval training method he could achieve fitness in a subject in sixweeks which would take twelve weeks of steady running to produce. He based his claim on work with 3000 subjects at Frieburg University. Another astounding statement he made was that it was not the actual running ofshort distances repeatedly that improved the stroke volume of the heart,it was the recovery period after such runs that did the building of endurance.
In order to carry out Gerschler’s regime it is necessary to know what your best times are for running the distances of 100, 200 and 600 metres,because all the running is done at a percentage of those times. This isthe procedure.
Day 1
Run 100 metres 3 seconds slower than your best at the distance eg best100 metres time = 14 seconds + 3 seconds = 17 seconds. Recover by lying onthe ground with the feet elevated on a bench until the pulse rate returnsto 120 beats a minute within 90 seconds. Allowing the pulse to register 20beats for 10 seconds will suffice. The 100 metre runs continue every timethe pulse reaches 120bpm until the pulse fails to reach 120bpmwithin 90 seconds. This might be after 10 x 100 metres or 30 x 100 metres.The session must cease when the pulse fails to recover to therequired time limit.
Day 2
Run 200 metres 6 seconds slower than your best at the distance eg best200 metres time = 30 seconds + 6 seconds = 36 seconds. Repeat the pulserecovery routine outlined in Day 1. The pulse may fail to recover after 8x 200 or it may take 28 x 200.
Day 3
Run 600 metres 18 seconds slower than your best at the distance eg best600 metres time = 105 seconds (70secs/400) + 18 seconds = 123 seconds.Repeat the pulse recovery routine as described.
The process continues for the week as follows: Day 4 as for Day 1, Day 5 as for Day 2, Day 6 as for Day 3, Day 7 - rest. After 14 days of this interval training, it will be noticed that thetime it takes for the pulse to recover to 120 beats per minute (20 beatsfor 10 seconds) will become less.
I have known subjects who have done 32 x 200 metre runs in this way,and whose pulse rate returned to 120bpm within 45 seconds. During theactual runs the pulse rate will be elevated to a range between 160 to 180beats per minute. It is while the pulse is returning to 120bpm that theheart gains strength, increasing the stroke volume by one-fifth within 21days. It will be noted that with steady running, the pulse will hover ataround 130-140bpm. Whereas with this procedure, the average pulse ratewill be 180 - 120 = 300 halved = 150bpm average.
Astrand
Astrand’s get fit quick method does not involve pulse-taking, but itdoes require accurate timing. Per-Olof Astrand stated that short intervaltraining of 10 second runs with 20 second rests raises aerobic capacitywithin the muscles much more effectively than do longer intervals, such as1 minute runs with 2 minute rests. This would be expected only if theshort runs were executed more aerobically than the longer intervals. Isthis possible? Surprisingly, this is so.
Because of the presence in muscle of myoglobin, an oxygen-bindingprotein which provides a small but important store of oxygen, only aproportion of the oxygen required during the runs can be delivered by thecirculation, leaving a deficit which must be restored by anaerobicmetabolism, and the latter does not train the aerobic system. Myoglobin inthis instance is providing extra oxygen to meet this deficit so that theaerobic system can be used to its optimum capacity and therebyeffectively trained. However this is not the only trick Astrand revealed.Running at a percentage of your maximum during a duration-stipulatedrun was a stroke of masterly observation. First of all it is necessaryto run for 3 minutes and to cover as much distance as possible during thattime. For accuracy, a track is preferable, but a path through a park willsuffice.
Let us imagine that we have a sports person fighting to regain fitnesswho runs exactly 800 metres in 3 minutes. That distance must be rememberedfor a month, no matter how long or short it may be because it is going tobe constantly used at different percentages of time. For the firsttraining session, the distance is going to be run at 80 per cent. That’s80 percent of 3 minutes (180 seconds) which is 800 metres run in216-seconds (3mins 36sec). This run is repeated as many times as possiblein one session with just 30 seconds recovery after each run, until thedistance cannot be run in the prescribed time. These runs are at about 75per cent of the VO2 max. For the second training session, thedistance of 800 metres is run at 90 percent of 180 seconds, which is 3mins 18 secs, with 60 seconds recovery, repeated many times. Theserepetitions are at about 95 percent of the VO2 max. For thethird training session, the 800m distance is run at 85 percent of the timewhich will be 207 seconds (3mins 27secs), with 45 seconds rest after eachrun. This is about 90 percent of the VO2 max.
We are now in a position to draw up a get fit quick schedule based onAstrand’s methods.
Day1
Run for 3 minutes as far as possible eg 800 metres. Rest 6 minutes andrun the same distance at 80 per cent of the time eg 3mins 36secs with30secs rest. Repeat many times.
Day 2
Run 10 second intervals with 20 second rests for 30 minutes. Attempt to cover more than 50 metres per run.
Day 3
Run for 90 percent of the time for the distance achieved on Day 1. Inthis example 800 metres in 3 mins 18secs with 60 secs rest. Repeat manytimes as long as target time is achieved.
Day 4
Repeat Day 2
Day 5
Run the 3 minute distance in 85 per cent of the time. Example - 800m in 207 seconds with 45 seconds rest. Repeat as many times as possible.
Day 6
Repeat Day 2
Day 7
Rest After one month of repeating the Astrand weekly cycle, it will benecessary to do a 3 minute maximum effort run again to determine whetherthere is a major improvement and also to amend the training distance. Forexample a distance of 1000 metres may be run in 3 minutes and thisdistance will be a constant throughout the month.
It is not necessary on Day 1 to do the initial maximum 3 minute runagain, this is done only once to determine the training distance.
Nurmekivi
Nurmekivi, a noted Russian work physiologist, has a simple formula forquick fitness. Train at 100 percent of the V02 max for just 10minutes per day. That is at a sports person’s best 3k speed. It will benecessary to ascertain this by doing a track time trial or a measured 3kmroad course. Once the time is known for the 7½ laps of a track, segmentsof the distance are taken and run at the same pace many times - forexample, if a sports person runs the distance in 11 minutes 15 seconds,that’s 90 seconds per 400 metres. Here is a plan of different 3k pacesessions for a week with progressions.
Day 1
Build up to running 16 x 400m in 90secs with 45secs rest. Progression - reduce average lap times to as fast as possible.
Day 2
Build up to running 32 x 200m in 45secs with 20secs rest. Progression - keep reducing speed of 200s
Day 3
Build up to running 8 x 800m in 3 minutes with 90secs rest. Progression - increase speed of reps when original time becomes easy.
Day 4
Build up to running 6 x 1000m in 3mins 45secs with 2mins rest. Progression - aim to improve time of reps.
Day 5
Build up to running 4 x 1500m in 5mins, 37.5secs with 3 minutes rest. Progression - reduce average time for repetitions.
Day 6
32 x 100m in 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest. Progression - increase average speed of repetitions. If Nurmekivi’s edict is followed to the letter, it will only benecessary to do a thorough warm-up up and then 10 minutes of each of theabove sessions. This would virtually halve the volume for each day. It issuggested that 10 minutes should be the starting point and a goalfor 20 minutes is preferable.
Combining the three
Now, there is nothing against all the physiologists work quoted being used in part to form a complex programme. Here is a sample.
Day 1
Astrand session - 3 minute distance run x 6 at 80percent of 3mins.
Day 2
Gerschler session - 100m runs 3secs slower than best with pulse recovery of 120bpm
Day 3
Nurmekivi session - 10 minutes of running 400s at 3k pace with 45secs rest.
Day 4
Astrand session - 10 second runs with 20 second rests for 30 minutes.
Day 5
Gerschler session - 200m runs 6secs slower than best with pulse recovery of 120bpm.
Day 6
Nurmekivi session - 10 minutes of running 800s at 3k pace with 90secsrest.
Day 7
Rest
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