So now it’s time to put it all together. We went over Acceleration, Maximum Velocity or Top Speed, and the last piece to the puzzle is Speed Endurance.
Speed endurance is basically the ability to maintain your speed without decelerating. So while you’re sprinting and start to fatigue, the person who decelerates the slowest always wins. You start fatiguing because of the lactic acid build up accumulated within the muscles. Therefore it’s a must to train that ability to maintain high levels of speed even when tired.
What we need to prevent especially, is that when athletes get tired they just revert back to what is easy for them, poor form and technique. But, training for speed endurance has a great mental component involved because it is important to focus on efficiency and technique, even if the run seems slower. Working on this in practice, makes it that much easier in a game or competition, because you can just focus on performing your best.
2 Types of Speed Endurance Workouts
Short Distance/Short Rest
This is also known as Alactic speed endurance. This is for runs 30-80m long with rest periods of 30 seconds – 3 minutes between repetitions.
Example:
2 sets of 7 x 30m with 30 seconds rest between reps and 3 minutes between sets.
Longer Distance/Longer Rest
This is known as Gylcolytic speed endurance. This is for runs of 80-150m with rest periods of 6-10 minutes betweeb sets.
Example:
4 x 90m at full speed with 8 minutes rest between each rep
3 x 150m @ 90% with 10 minutes rest between each rep
In Summary…
These types of workouts can give the best results, but will only depend on the sport the athlete plays. For example, sports like football, or soccer, where runs are predominantly short bursts of acceleration followed by low intensity movements, short distance workouts with short recovery will benefit the athlete more. So there’s no need to focus on Glycolytic speed endurance is you or your athlete will never sprint longer than 60m, i.e. almost every sport outside of track and field sprinters. Sprinters, which higher intensity runs, obviously benefit more in the longer runs with more recovery time.
Both types of workouts though will allow athletes to compete longer into their games or runs, without showing high degrees of fatigue. As a result, working on your speed endurance will lead to running faster and of course better performances.
(original image by julia*wade)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
These are real good articles. I just retired from coaching high school track and field. I had a little success. I’ll be 56 years old in a few weeks but I’m not old school like a lot of old men that don’t have an open mind. You have very good information here. I have studied some theory and philosophy. When you know that what you have work, then stick with it.
Michael thanks a lot for the comment! Having an open mind is key with training especially when methods are always changing, but you’re right if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it! : )