With the transition from treadmill to track, the warm up and drills can almost be a workout by itself if done properly! Let’s look closer at why it’s necessary to warm up: to increase body temperature, increase muscle elasticity, start the metabolic processes involved with exercise, and to prevent injury. Just like you wouldn’t walk out of the locker room at the gym and squat 200 lbs, you don’t want to show up at the track and just start sprinting.
Start with a light 800 meter (twice around the track) jog.
Then mark out 20 meters, or about 65’ on the track or on the field for sprint drills. You can use just about anything to mark off distance – a water bottle, keys, etc. The focus of these exercises is to take short, very quick steps, but cover very little ground while doing them. Each drill is executed for 20 meters, with a stride/brisk jog out of the drill for about 20 meters. After the stride, walk back to the starting point.
Here are a few drills that I like:
• Butt kicks
• Hi-knees
• Backward run
• Straight-leg short/shuffle
• Rhythm
• B-Skips
• A-Skips
It will take some time to get used to the warm ups, drills, and workouts. Don’t feel bad if you’re tired after trying these!! If you’re still looking to get volume after drills, I recommend running 10 diagonals on the soccer/football field. You’ll just start at one corner of the field and stride to the diagonal corner, walking the short side of the field for recovery.
Happy sprinting!
Erin Stern
Visit www.ErinStern.com for info.
