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Charlie Francis - Rest Interval Discussion

Charlie Francis discusses periodization and recovery times for sprint training. He argues that 18 seconds is too short a recovery time between reps, even for sub-maximal training. As athletes approach their max effort, at least 1 minute per 10 meters of distance is needed for recovery. For elite sprinters running 10.5 seconds or faster in the 100m, recoveries of 4-5 minutes may be needed between 30 meter sprints. Taking the full recovery time, even if it is long, is necessary to ensure athletes can maintain quality in their runs. Prioritizing recovery over adding more reps will lead to better speed adaptations than shorter recovery times which result in less than optimal reps.

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523 views

Charlie Francis - Rest Interval Discussion

Charlie Francis discusses periodization and recovery times for sprint training. He argues that 18 seconds is too short a recovery time between reps, even for sub-maximal training. As athletes approach their max effort, at least 1 minute per 10 meters of distance is needed for recovery. For elite sprinters running 10.5 seconds or faster in the 100m, recoveries of 4-5 minutes may be needed between 30 meter sprints. Taking the full recovery time, even if it is long, is necessary to ensure athletes can maintain quality in their runs. Prioritizing recovery over adding more reps will lead to better speed adaptations than shorter recovery times which result in less than optimal reps.

Uploaded by

Jay Mike
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Periodization Discussion by Charlie Francis

Quote:

Originally Posted by ollie


Strength Coach Mike Boyle recently suggested resting about 18 seconds in between reps of
10's. Isn't that a little short?
The more I hear about Boyle, the more I'm convinced he knows little about training speed.
Perfect example of what I stated earlier. Do your research before claiming to be an authority or
expert. Otherwise you are just misinforming people. Often these types of people will claim that
"Team sports athletes should not train like track athletes." Having trained athletes at elite levels
in both track and teams sports, I know this is bullshit and a cover for "I don't know how to train
sprinters, so I'll tell everyone that sprint training is useless for non-track athletes."

Pioneer is much closer to the mark. Early in a speed development phase, you would be running
sub-maximal sprints over short distances with shorter intervals (i.e. easy walk back). This allows
you to get more reps in and work on postural issues during the start and initial acceleration.
However, even for this type of work, 18 seconds would be ridiculous. As you approach
maximum effort (90-95% of best time and above), you will use 1 minute per 10 meters of travel
as an absolute minimum. If working with elite athletes (i.e. 100m sprinters running 10.5 or
better), these recovery durations would be moved well beyond that duration. 30 meter sprints
(standing, falling start) may require 4-5 minutes. Block starts even more. Other considerations
may be temperature during the runs. If it's really hot, you may take longer, as there is less
concern of the athletes cooling down. In cooler environments, you may shorten recovery times
(at the expense of lower intensities on the runs) to prevent the athlete from cooling down too
much between reps.

Charlie was big on providing whatever recovery was necessary to keep the athletes running fast.
18 seconds will not do that - ever. If it takes 5 minutes between 30 meter runs, then you must
take the full 5 minutes.

Yes, in my book 3x30m with 4-5 min breaks will always be better than 10x30m with 1 min breaks.

In the first example you get 3 repetitions that contribute to a positive speed adaptation, as indicated by
Pakewi. In example 2 you get 1 good speed rep (assuming the athletes are not holding back on rep 1,
knowing that 9 more are coming) plus a mish-mash of special endurance work with bad technique and
greater risk of muscle strain.
Unfortunately, working in the private sector does not give you the luxury of "time". When I coached
100m sprinters, a running workout could take 2.5 hours or more. Most of this time was to allow for a
gradual progression in warm-up, therapeutic interventions and, most of all, recovery between runs. And,
when we performed block starts, I found very quickly that more time was required for recovery to
ensure the athletes could repeat the quality of their runs. This is why Charlie used standing starts for all
runs other than specific block work. The amount of energy expended from a deep position would dilute
the quality of longer runs (i.e. 60m and above).

What it adds up to is that in order to optimize speed gains, you must give the recovery time identified by
Pioneer and Pakewi. This point is not debatable. The "private sector gurus" will give their excuses and
rationalizations for their programs, but they cannot burn the candle at both ends. In the final analysis,
their programs become glorified calorie burning sessions.

HRV:

Download Kubios HRV from the Finnish University website. I don't have the link but Google Kubios HRV
and you'll find it. A Polar or Suunto HRM with R-R measurements is all you need to invest in. Kubios has
the ability to import polar or suunto files directly.

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