The Start
Sprint sessions must begin with a proper war-
mup—five or ten minutes of light intensity exer-
cise of the same type that you will be sprinting at.
After you’ve warmed up sufficiently, take a minute
or two to do a few “transition” sessions where you
gradually ramp up the speed or effort until you
hit max for just a few seconds, then ease it back
down. This will prepare you for the speed and
effort you’ll be “digging down” for when you begin
the actual sprints. As you start your first actual
sprint, ease into that as well for a few seconds,
rather than bursting out of the blocks as if a start-
er’s gun went off. You want to get up to speed
as soon as possible, but you’ll avoid injury if you
accelerate smoothly.
As I mentioned, if you have an underlying injury
or weakness that prevents actual full out running,
there are many other options. The important thing
is moving as fast as you can; the actual movement
doesn’t matter so much as the moving. Let’s look
at a few options.
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