Repeat Sprint drill
Repeated Sprint Sets
Build repeat sprint ability across a training block using sets that protect sprint quality.
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Players
- 1 to 20 players
- Intensity
- High
- Equipment
- Cones
- Space
- 30m straight line
- Positions
- All positions
Setup
One cone 30m from a start line. Alternatively run 22m line to halfway, which is 28m, and accept it is 2m short.
How to run it
- Set a repeating 30-second timer.
- Sprint 30m all out, then jog straight back to the start and be set before the next beep - the jog is deliberate, because active recovery clears the legs faster than standing does.
- Six reps is one series.
- Rest 2 minutes between series, starting at 3 series and building to 5 across a six-week block.
- Run it twice a week on non-consecutive days, and never the day after maximum speed work.
Coaching cues
- Jog back, don't walk back
- Sets exist to protect sprint quality
- Add series before you cut the rest
Common mistakes
- Running it as one long continuous set, which makes it a completely different and much more lactic session
- Stacking it on the day after heavy sprint work when your nervous system is still flat
Related drills
- Alactic Power RunsDevelop the pure power end of repeat sprint ability with full recovery between efforts.
- Alactic Capacity RunsExtend how long you can hold near-maximal speed before the anaerobic systems take over.
- Speed Endurance Maintenance ShuttlesTrain holding speed while badly fatigued, on deliberately short recovery.
- Speed Endurance Production ShuttlesProduce maximum output on every single rep, with long rest to keep quality intact.
- 22m Shuttle GrinderBuild tolerance to a single sustained maximal effort with heavy braking and turning.
- Repeat Sprint SetTrain the ability to sprint hard again and again on short recovery, which is what fades in the last twenty minutes.