Explanation of Training Timings

This article is guest blogged by Lee Ness, a UKA qualified Event Group Coach for Sprints and Hurdles, the Head Coach/Sprint Coach at City of Salisbury Athletics, and Running Club and Track and Field Team Manager for Wiltshire Athletics Association.

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Training Timings

This is a short post, not really an article, simply to share a spreadsheet that I developed and am happy for anyone to use.

As a coach, I will often set up a training session that involves a % of maximum. But when you have 30 athletes who run different distances of varying abilities, how do you know what the percentages are?

Now if you are viewing the % value as a form of perceived exertion, then just the number is fine. But if this is related to time, then they need to know the specific time for each athlete.

Application

If you perform 3 reps of 250m at 85%, who knows what that is? So rather than automatically switch to perceived exertion, I created a timings spreadsheet based on research around the web that goes on the wall in the clubhouse. When the athletes are briefed on the session as a group, they are told the distances and percentage. It is now down to them to check the sheet and monitor the times when they are on a recovery break. When we are running the CE exercises, I will call out their times, but don’t record them nor compare them to their target. I will tell them what they are, and it is up to them to work out whether they are hitting their % or not.

This may sound a bit hands off, but I am a strong believer in the athletes taking responsibility for themselves in most things and this is a form of that. There are obviously practical reasons as well, trying to work out and writedown the times of so many athletes over so many reps makes the training an administrative nightmare.

If you have comments or questions on the sheet, please let me know. It has been developed for sprinters because that’s all I needed. All I will ask is that if you do add new distances or even include hurdles (I don’t use this for my hurdlers), and then share it with the community.

Click here to download the Training Timings sheet. Microsoft Excel required.

About the Author

My name is Lee Ness. I am a UKA qualified Event Group Coach for Sprints and Hurdles, the Head Coach/Sprint Coach at City of Salisbury Athletics and Running Club and Track and Field Team Manager for Wiltshire Athletics Association. I’ve been coaching track and filed for around 7 years. I coach all the sprints, from 60m to 400m plus the long and sprint hurdles. In my sprint group I have 36 sprinters and 10 hurdlers of various ages, starting from 13. In my group I have three athletes in the UK top 10 rankings for their event.

I write about sports performance in general and have written a book called The Sports Motivation Masterplan which will be released on September 1, 2014 by December House. The book is a support guide for athletes and parents, helping them with the role of mentor through their journey from young aspiring athlete, to elite performer.