The Importance of Sprinting

 Recently there was a discovery in Australia of some fossilized footprints left in the mud of a dried up lake in New South Wales. What was interesting was these human footprints were estimated to be 20,000 years old. What was even more interesting was the shape and distance between the footprints indicated that whoever left them was running at a speed of 23 MPH, or about the level of an Olympic sprinter! I will leave it to your imagination to picture what that Aboriginal Australian was running from. 

While today we don’t have to worry about running from velociraptors, there is still some importance in being able to maintain the ability to sprint or move fast when we need to.  

It seems like when we are kids, we run and sprint all the time, playing games or sports. We did it just for fun! 

But as we got older, that usually happens less and less. And that’s a shame, because the ability to run fast remains important as we get older. It could even save your life. Being able to get away from a dangerous situation quickly, or being able to run and catch something in a hurry is an essential ability that we should be able to maintain. Yes, even into our older years!

USE IT OR LOSE IT

Without getting too nerdy about it, running fast is different from slower jogging, using different energy systems. Long distance running is done by utilizing your oxygen-burning aerobic system, more of a slow burn, which allows you to last longer by just breathing to keep your engine running.

Faster sprints utilize more of your anaerobic glycogen system. This means you burn sugars and use your fast-twitch muscle fibers for greater speed and power, but the battery runs out fast, usually within 10-20 seconds.  

Training both of these systems is important as we get older, because the ability to generate speed and power is one of the first things we lose if we don’t train it regularly. “Use it or lose it” very much applies here. Using the fast twitch fibers has been shown to increase growth hormone as much as 700% , which is fantastic for body recomposition and muscle growth. If you need further proof, look at the physique of an Olympic sprinter compared to an Olympic marathoner. While both are phenomenal athletes, there is no question that the sprinters carry more lean muscle than the distance runners. The reason is the fast-twitch muscle activation and growth hormone release that sprint training encourages.

So what does this mean for us regular mortals? How do we utilize this training into our routines safely and effectively? 

1. Gradual introduction of speed work. If you haven’t been doing more than walking or easy jogging for quite some time, it is going to take some time to build tolerance for the efforts involved. Running can put more than 3x the forces through the muscles and joints than walking does, and jumping right into a full sprint without proper preparation could lead to trouble in the form of injured hamstrings or worse. 

First start with a good warmup to get circulation going. Active stretches, fast walking, some lunges, some high knee pulls. Look for the Hinshaw Warmup for some good ideas. 

Next pick a short distance to run at maybe 50-75% of your max effort, no more than 10 seconds at a time, maybe 20-50 yards. See how you feel after that effort. Is your heart racing? Your blood pumping harder? Good. That is what we want. Slow down to a walk until you feel your vitals come back down to normal again. It might take a few minutes or more. Repeat your sub-max sprints 3-5 more times with that adequate rest in between for that recovery. This is how you train the system to tolerate more. 

Eventually you will be able to run faster for these sprints until you feel good making an all-out effort, but you will still only go for about 10-20 seconds, maybe 100 yards at a time, and still give yourself minutes of rest between efforts to allow for cardiovascular recovery. This is training that anaerobic system to deliver the juice to the muscles when you need it. Eventually your muscles and tendons adapt to the ability to handle the plyometric stresses you are putting on it and your cardiovascular system adapts to the point that even slower jogging feels easier for you too.  Practice this a couple times a week and see the benefits that regular speed training can do for you! 

And as always if you have any problems or questions with any of this, especially any pain or injury surrounding this area of running, give us a call! We are musculoskeletal experts who love to keep people like you healthy and active for life, keeping the amazing machine that is your body primed and ready to take on anything that life can throw at you. If you are in the Gainesville FL area, come see us at FORGE for the best physical therapy experience you will find!