Acceleration development should be the primary focus for any athlete in any speed and power based sport. Success in any sport requiring running will be based off of an athlete’s ability to accelerate to top speed with little wasted motion as possible. You become a more efficient runner with little wasted motion or using less energy basically.
Overtime, you will progress to longer distances and run more exciting workouts, but for now the key is to stay patient. Remember it’s progressing from a short to long program. I’m going to make a lot of assumptions here, like you are also developing your strength, flexibility and endurance, which will allow you to progress at a faster rate.
Time to head out to the track. I would advise against doing speed work on grass because that’s just an injury waiting to happen. From here you will start out at 20m, and depending on your sport can start from a variety of positions, on the ground, a crouch, a 3 point stance, etc. This is where it’s very important to have a coach or someone there to watch you, or if you have no other other, record yourself with a video camera. Once you have all the mechanical elements in place, you can extend that out to 30 metres, and then 40. What you should be looking for is consistency in your movement patterns, proper running mechanics and when you become really good, the ability to tell what you did right and wrong.
The best way to assess consistency is to obviously time your intervals, (another important reason to have a partner or coach.) When you are consistently running the same times within .1 – .2 seconds, it is likely that they are doing the same things over and over. At these shorter distances, there is less room for error, but developing these skills early will pay off greatly at longer distances.
Now that you are out of the 30-40meter range, you are no longer accelerating. In fact, many athletes will be at full speed by 30-40 meters, so this is the time where you will begin adding Maximum Velocity components to your training. If you are not reaching full speed until after 40 meters, you are likely holding back or you could have mechanical problems that are limiting proper acceleration. So you’re not quite ready for longer sprint work. Stay tuned for Part 2…Max Velocity
(original image by Wolfram Burner)
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