"Speed" Is Really Two Skills
Acceleration is how fast you build up speed from a stop — roughly the first 30 meters. Max velocity is your top-end speed once you're upright and flying. They look different, feel different, and train differently. Most young athletes only ever train acceleration (short sprints from blocks) and wonder why their top speed stalls.Acceleration
- What it looks like: big forces, aggressive forward lean, powerful pushes into the ground, gradual rise.
- How to train it: short sprints (10–30m), hill sprints, and resisted sprints (sleds). Research on resisted sprinting shows heavier loads (a larger drop in speed) bias the acceleration/strength quality.
- Weight-room transfer is direct — strength makes you push harder into the ground.
Max Velocity
- What it looks like: tall posture, quick ground contacts, "stepping over" the opposite knee, relaxed face and hands.
- How to train it: fly runs — a rolling 20–30m at top speed after a build-up — and light resisted/assisted work. Lighter loads (small speed loss) better preserve top-speed mechanics.
- Demands full recovery. This is CNS work; tired reps just teach slow.
Why Every Event Needs It
- 100/200: obviously both.
- 400/800: acceleration off the line, plus a higher top gear so race pace feels easier (your "speed reserve").
- Jumps: a faster approach = a longer/higher jump.
- Distance: a stronger finishing kick comes from top-end speed you have to train.
How You Actually Get Faster
Sprint fast when you're fresh. Rest fully between reps. Lift to build force. Be patient.
Top speed is a skill — it improves with quality and recovery, not exhaustion. Junk sprints at 90% effort build neither.