For some this is the entry level event as they build up to a longer OCR, but that doesn’t mean these events are any less hard! If you are running a sprint correctly, your heart should be trying to burst out your chest as your lungs gasp for air all the while your legs are filling with lactate and begging for forgiveness.
A Sprint is a solid all or nothing effort, you have to push as hard as you can and they can last from anything to 25 minutes to an hour depending on your ability and length of the course. They usually have a strong similarity to running an all out race between a 5 and 10km pace, again, depending on the full length of the course.
When we look to train for such a fast paced event its good idea to focus on some specific items to the race, they generally have little to no carries and rely on top end speed to get the job done effectively. When working with athletes i will generalise the training into three categories:
- Speed
- Power
- Specificity
Speed
When we look at Speed we should spend at least some of our time focussing on VO2 max type workouts, which help stress your aerobic power and also slip into that Anaerobic zone. Which in turn should help you be a little more speedy come race day!
Here are some examples, they should be fast and each set should feel pretty good initially until you start reaching the end of each interval, your recovery should be enough to bring your heart rate down to a recovered state to perform the next effort at the same level of intensity and speed.
VO2 Max Interval progression examples:
Week 1:
10 Min Easy Pace
1 x 1000m @ <5Km Pace
2 x 800m @ <5Km Pace
2 – 3 Minutes Recovery Between Intervals
10 Min Easy Pace
Week 2:
10 Min Easy Pace
1 x 800m @ <5Km Pace
2 x 1000m @ <5Km Pace
2 – 3 Minutes Recovery Between Intervals
10 Min Easy Pace
Week 3:
10 Min Easy Pace
2 x 1000m @ <5Km Pace
1 x 1200m @ <5Km Pace
2 – 3 Minutes Recovery Between Intervals
10 Min Easy Pace
During week four you should consider a deload week to help adapt to the stimulus of training unless you have a super fine tunes plan
Week 4:
10 Min Easy Pace
2 x 800m @ <5Km Pace
2 – 3 Minutes Recovery
15 Min Easy Pace
Power
When it comes to strength training for a sprint, a great place to start would be some solid compound movements and building up a base using a standard 5 x 5 principle for at least 4 – 6 weeks. After a base has been established and as we near closer to race day, the biggest bang for buck that you can do is concentrate on some more power based moves. These will prime your muscles ready for race and and ensure your legs are an absolute power house come race day.
Some weighted power move examples:
Remember these moves should be EXPLOSIVE, so the reps and sets are low, but the movement should be fast and controlled.
Med Ball Slam
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Rest: 60s+
KettleBell Swing – Russian
Sets: 3
Reps: 5 – 10
Rest: 60s+
Sled Sprints
Sets: 3
Reps: 20m
Rest: 60s+
Dumbbell Thrusters
Sets: 3
Reps: 5 – 10
Rest: 60s+
Another example would be explosive bodyweight movements such as plyometrics, which can be incorporated to help build your speed-strength, makes us a bit more agile and help push you into that Anaerobic zone. They are also pretty handy as they don’t involve any speciality equipment like those above!
Be warned, hitting power moves seem fairly easy at the time, especially something as ‘simple’ as Plyometrics. “Its only a Jump, thats not going to do much” but trust me, you will get DOMS, especially if you haven’t done them before or in a long time. In fact if you’ve done a Plyometric session for the first time or in a while and you don’t feel it then next day, you most likely have done it wrong!
Again, remember these should be EXPLOSIVE! so the reps are short and sweet!
Heres some examples
Box Jumps
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Rest: 60s+
Depth Jumps
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Rest: 60s+
Broad Jumps
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Rest: 60s+
Specificity
So now you’ve got some speed and some serious power in those legs it’s good on the run up to the event to get super specific. So what does that mean? I’ve found the best workouts emulate the race as close as possible, but usually as simple as possible. You want speed and fatigue, an ‘obstacle’ and to try and the key, which is to get back to pace as quickly as possible and maintain in the hurt locker.
When we are looking at Sprint or shorter OCRsI like to keep things simple and follow my 400/10/5 principle which consists of a piece of fatigue work for 400m, followed by a weighted movement for 10 reps and a bodyweight movement for 5 reps. You can mix this up with a variety of movements to make it specific and a sufferfest.
As we are being specific, I’d advise to use the workouts as running based, but I’ve seen success in crossing over with rowing and the Assault Bike. Again, I like to try to aim for 5 rounds, but you can start with 3 and build up further across a period of weeks.
Race WOD 1:
3 – 5 Rounds for time:
400m Run/Row/Assault Bike
10 Sandbag Lunges
5 Pull Ups
Race WOD 2:
3 – 5 Rounds for time:
400m Run/Row/Assault Bike
10 DB Thrusters
5 Burpees
Race WOD 3:
3 – 5 Rounds for time:
400m Run/Row/Assault Bike
10 Sandbag Squats
5 Mountain Climbers (Each Side)
So now you’ve carved yourself into a true Sprint worthy OCR athlete you’ll be able to conquer your next OCR or Spartan Race with a top performance to show for all your hard work! Just remember to ensure you taper before race day so your feeling fresh and ready to dig deep!
I hope you enjoyed this article, if you’d like to get involved with my OCR coaching and take your performance to the next level then feel free to reach out!
Jake Barber
Jake is an Online coach who specialises in Endurance and OCR events.
@Riseandgrindrunning
Riseandgrindocr@Gmail.com