Is speed development a waste of time?

But it doesn’t work unless you happen to be one of the most talented middle distance runners in history. Were you a slow-twitch runner? I was one and weightlifting and hills had no effect.

What about for other sports? A “stick and move” boxer is never going to develop knockout power, there’s no training to dunk a basketball and a finesse pitcher will not throw 100 mph.

WRONG!

Why do people post sh^t that is NOT TRUE! Where do you get your information from? First, you agree to a post that contradicts itself saying you don't need speed in the 5000 because it's all about "endurance", then goes on to say unless it's in the 12's you then need speed. What? Did the "endurance" factor change because its a faster race?

Speed development is a necessity in a training plan. Whether it's a pure speed workout of rolling 50's, 100's, and or 150's with max recovery or a diluted version with a short tempo run or hills combined with 100's or 150's at the end, its a needed workout EOW or at least monthly depending on the time of season.

Been there, Done That, Tried, True, and Proven.

Pure speed training also improves muscle fiber activation. In the end of race You can activate more muscle and kick harder than runners who are faster, but doesn't train speed

That’s just not true and “muscle fiber activation” is mumble jumble.

Can you give an example of some slow-twitch runner out kicking someone with good top-end speed or that improved his 400m speed as a result of your training methods?

The term "speed development" is much too vague; it can mean 10 different things to 10 different runners/coaches

As an example, in my opinion doing short sprints hardly qualifies as speed "development"; that's more like speed "maintenance"

To run fast as possible on 800m and 1500m you need fast all out shorter stuff sometimes.But remember it's only one of the main factors contributing to a magic mix leading to individual optimal results at 800/ 1500/ mile racing.

Are there any resources you can point to the 8s w 3 minutes rest being optimal? Obviously I never did this type of training but am intrigued as a distance runner on how to optimize speed.

i feel most distance runners if told to sprint as fast as they can for 8 seconds would feel like they are ready to go again before 3 minutes so that’s why they do that.

or I’m curious now as a weekend soccer warrior on how to get faster

What is the warmup for a sprint workout?

I remember asking Dan Pfaff what sprinters did all day for a workout? And he said I wouldn’t be about to walk if I did a proper sprint workout. I wish I had actually done one to see what it entails.

There's a YouTube video of you kicking hard to win a half marathon wejo. So your situation as a distance runner with a decent kick contradicts the posts made by sprinters on this thread saying you need fresh legs to be able to sprint.

No training to dunk a basketball? Are you an idiot?

So let's talk about vertical jump ability.

It varies a lot from distance runners to sprinters doesn't it? Just like maximum velocity.

I've been posting here over 20 years and we never have intelligent threads on speed, speed development and speed endurance. Just lots of posters giving opinions based on their own limited knowledge.

For your vertical, there's obviously a natural talent component. But to think you can't train with weightlifting, plyometrics and technique to add to your vertical is asinine.

So how come my vertical jump and top speed never improved from the age of 16 despite all the various traing methods over the years?

Apply that to the top sprinters, it's probably the same. They can hit probably 12 meters per second in their teens but continue improving 100m times for several years because they improve speed endurance.

How did you train your vertical over the years?

Wejo - a good place to start is by searching “Tony Holler Feed the Cats” on YouTube. There is also an amazing thread on the boards “5x60m w/ full recovery” where poster V has a ton of valuable insights. If you’re truly interested in improving your speed a as a weekend soccer warrior, Tony Holler’s atomic speed workout would be a good place to start. I would probably modify it to include a two mile warm-up and to do the sprints up a hill for time instead of on the flat.

Playing ball is all the great jumpers need to strengthen their legs. A vertical jump requires fast-twitch muscles and bulking up slow-twitch ones won’t make a difference. You haven’t heard of the movie White Men Can’t Jump?

I've never done true speed development like flying 30-50m sprints all out, but adding fast strides daily made me a much better athlete. I had never broken 60 in HS until my junior year, but I ended up going from an (estimated) 58.x 400 PR with a 9:30 3200, to a 52.x runner with a 9:10. I thought I was a 100% slow twitch athlete but never had trained speed so my potential was much higher than I thought. But more importantly, I had a far better kick so I could win races in multiple ways - not just front running and hoping to drop people

It also makes you feel much more comfortable moving quickly - I went from straining to break 15 in a 100m stride at the end of a short easy run to being able to comfortably run in the low 13's range, and it makes running at 4 flat pace much, much easier

Right. 30-50m sprints took 6 seconds off of your 400m time. If you had run 9:30 with 58 speed, you would have approached 8:40 after improving to 52. Your story is ridiculous.

So you never played basketball I take it lmao