Speed

[darktorn]

Basically I've started working out after regaining my motivation. I'm trying to build up my muscles and increase my strength and body mass but my greatest asset has always been speed.
I'm really fast (100m sprint time used to be 11.04 seconds when I trained with school athletics team) but i was wondering what sort of training I could do to improve my sprinting speed. I was thinking maybe running with a weighted backpack or something, but any help would be much appreciated.

[Xanatos]

Usually it's not the speed you need to worry about, but stamina. I can run fast, but not for very long. Normally you don't need to outrun your opponents for long, just long enough. If they get tired before you then you have succeeded. Just have a daily/weekly sprint and see how far you go, then try and beat it. You may wish to time yourself if you like. And stay away from smoke, it eats away at your lungs and you lose breath faster. It's normally hard to sprint long distances on your own accord, but when you're compromised the adrenaline will take you to the edges of the earth.

[Illusion]

Have you considered fartlek/interval training?

[darktorn]

I can full out sprint for the duration of a 100m sprint so I want to build stamina but i was also wondering about increasing my max speed. Stamina is just a case of sprinting regularly over increasing distances but I can't find any conclusive ways to increase your maximum speed which would be more useful to me.

And i must admit to being partial to the odd smoke with some drink. I figure an occasional smoke can't be too bad for me right?

[Xanatos]

Different people have different tobacco tolerances, which is why some smokers live to be 90 in almost perfect condition. For increasing speed, just time yourself over a set distance and try to beat it. I use my mind to speed me up. Instead of pushing my muscles to make me go faster, I use my mind to manipulate and slow the rest of the world around me. If I'm chasing someone, I use my mind to reel them in. If I'm running away from someone, I use my mind to push my persuers back, make myself lighter and become as an arrow breaking through a barrier. It's a form of meditation that takes a great deal of focus to accomplish. It may sound silly, but it works for me (when I need it).

[Illusion]

I can full out sprint for the duration of a 100m sprint so I want to build stamina but i was also wondering about increasing my max speed. Stamina is just a case of sprinting regularly over increasing distances but I can't find any conclusive ways to increase your maximum speed which would be more useful to me.

And i must admit to being partial to the odd smoke with some drink. I figure an occasional smoke can't be too bad for me right?

The reason I suggested fartlek was too help your speed. My running routine is like this...

I do a 30 min jog every every Monday - which can be anything from 3.5 to 4 miles. Although, I'm not bothered about the distance - as long as I do my 30 minutes at a consistent effort. Every 4 weeks I add 5minutes on to this.

Then every Wednesday - I do a 1 min hard sprint, 1 min jog interval session. Once again; I don't do this with a particular distance in mind, I just do it to achieve that 10mins. You could try doing sessions of 1, 2, 3, 1 minutes etc.

Lastly on Friday - I do a 1.5 mile timed run, currently hitting it around 10:45. This is more for a fitness test I have coming up though - so you could adapt that etc.

[darktorn]

I can full out sprint for the duration of a 100m sprint so I want to build stamina but i was also wondering about increasing my max speed. Stamina is just a case of sprinting regularly over increasing distances but I can't find any conclusive ways to increase your maximum speed which would be more useful to me.

And i must admit to being partial to the odd smoke with some drink. I figure an occasional smoke can't be too bad for me right?

The reason I suggested fartlek was too help your speed. My running routine is like this...

I do a 30 min jog every every Monday - which can be anything from 3.5 to 4 miles. Although, I'm not bothered about the distance - as long as I do my 30 minutes at a consistent effort. Every 4 weeks I add 5minutes on to this.

Then every Wednesday - I do a 1 min hard sprint, 1 min jog interval session. Once again; I don't do this with a particular distance in mind, I just do it to achieve that 10mins. You could try doing sessions of 1, 2, 3, 1 minutes etc.

Lastly on Friday - I do a 1.5 mile timed run, currently hitting it around 10:45. This is more for a fitness test I have coming up though - so you could adapt that etc.

Sorry I misunderstood you, this sounds very helpful thanks for posting it. And I'm skeptical but I'll give that meditationy thing a try, can't hurt I guess.

[nooner]

Hill sprints will do wonders. Find a good sized, steep hill(doesn't have to be very long), and just sprint up it repeatedly. Run up, jog back down. The jog down is your rest, as soon as you hit the bottom you about-face and sprint back up again. Set up a target at the top that you have to reach every time to keep you motivated for each sprint. I just have a tree at the top of the hill that I have to touch.

Having the jog back down turns it into an aerobic workout as well as an anaerobic workout. For reference: distance running is an aerobic activity. Sprinting is an anaerobic activity. You need to be well balanced in both to be able to outrun the cops. Sprinting for initial evasion, cross-country for extended evasion.

[The Soldier]

bruce lee had a technique were he would interval with jogging, walking, sprinting and jogging backwards. it's suppose to be a great workout.

[Psychlonic]

Call me simple, but practice makes "perfect". If you want to get better at something, you just have to do it over and over again. If you want to be a faster runner, you must run fast over and over. Running uphills here is a great help as the resistance tends to slow you down and tire you out faster.

I do a lot of shuttle sprints and line sprints. Basically just run back and forth between several points to develop explosiveness and a good "stop and go" ability. Crap I learned playing sports in high school, but it's effective.

Whatever you do, don't weigh yourself down. At least not when sprinting. In theory it might sound great, but the high risk of destroying your joints isn't worth it.

[darktorn]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll give sprinting on hills and those sprinting then jogging things a go along with the back and forth thing Psychlonic suggested.