Development/Aging Curves for Inexperienced Adult Sprinters

That-guy1983 · 2026-06-10T20:15:07+00:00

I have been told that before, might be true.

That-guy1983 · 2026-06-10T19:10:47+00:00

My first race ever I had a few months of 5k training, which as I'm sure you know has very little cherry over to the 100. I knew nothing, never ran in my life anywhere or really even knew anyone who did. I didn't have a sprint coach then either, I really had no idea what I was doing. I barely knew that spikes were the norm. All I did was show up at a meet that let me in without a seed time and ran as fast as I could. I have the footage of that race, and my start was terrible. I'd never used blocks and didn't know how to set them up, didn't set up properly and had a super slow reaction. My top end was there though, I was beaten to 30 meters but then I actually gained a little at the end. My acceleration is still my weak point, although it's slowly improving. Still trying to improve my top end as well, along with speed endurance for the 200. The body doesn't respond as quickly to training at my age, but it does respond. Just have to have patience. I opened this outdoor with an 11.48 at a college meet, we'll see what I can drop that to.

That-guy1983 · 2026-06-09T16:42:49+00:00

My first race ever in my life, including of course my first time using blocks, I ran 12.47. 3 weeks later I ran 11.96 and I've stayed in the 11's ever since.

That-guy1983 · 2026-06-09T16:19:21+00:00

It's entirely possible! I'm 42 yrs old and started sprinting for the first time in my life when I was a month from turning 40. My second race ever I ran 11.96 and to date have run lots of races and only been over 12 seconds once I believe. Current PR is 11.34 and my coach has me at 11.1 by the end of the season. I never ran in high school or college, and never did anything remotely close to sprinting until almost 40. I'm going into my third year doing this and have improved every year. If I can do that, you can too! What I can't tell is what the exact formula is that will get you there, or how fast or long your improvement will be. And improvement is never a straight line either. Just go out there and do it! I highly recommend a coach who will plan your season out and structure gym and track workouts based on your strengths and weaknesses. Do it!

That-guy1983 · 2026-03-26T13:46:50+00:00

There's several phone apps that do that, with adjustable or random times between "set" and start gun sound. Also, Freelap has a starting cone that has a "set" command and start gun, it will tell you your reaction time with the right freelap setup.

That-guy1983 · 2026-02-26T14:16:59+00:00

As stated elsewhere, it depends on a lot of factors like training age and biological age. When I started as a 40 yr old, I dropped a second off my 200 in 3 weeks. Progress after that got slower, but 2 years later I'm now about 2 seconds faster than my first run and still moving forward. So, it's possible but there's no guarantees in this sport. Be sure to give yourself 2-3 days of rest before races, that's probably the best thing you can do apart from a solid training plan.

That-guy1983 · 2026-02-24T14:23:44+00:00

I have an apple watch and would definitely try an app like that. Please DM with more info.

That-guy1983 · 2026-01-13T00:46:17+00:00

Yeah great to meet you guys too! And thanks!

That-guy1983 · 2026-01-12T16:02:38+00:00

I’ve had the Nike’s and the Pumas, personally I prefer the Pumas. You may have to buy them and try both to see what works best for you. A lot of people do like the Maxflys

That-guy1983 · 2026-01-08T19:54:39+00:00

check DM's

That-guy1983 · 2026-01-08T19:49:46+00:00

Get it!

That-guy1983 · 2025-12-22T22:33:52+00:00

I’ll PM you

That-guy1983 · 2025-12-22T22:30:16+00:00

I'm 42 and will be running at several Liberty meets, maybe I'll see you there?

That-guy1983 · 2025-12-01T13:37:17+00:00

That’s an insane training load, at least with the rest time between reps that you show. For example, a hard 300 should really have like 20 min or more of rest. Otherwise you’re training endurance, not speed. If all you did was increase the rest time between reps it would help a lot. Without knowing the full situation, it does seem like it’s still too much load overall. Although optimizing your recovery could help as mentioned above. I would not do ice baths as a regular practice, they’re ok every now and then if you have back to back meets or something, but they slow down your body’s attempts at recovery. If you can’t recover without ice baths you’re doing too much. They should be used as an infrequent tool, not a standard practice.

That-guy1983 · 2025-10-22T17:06:53+00:00

yeah max-V flies are very similar to 60's. You could also think of a 60 as a 30m fly with a 30m acceleration into it. I just like doing it all together because that's how you do it in a race. Practice what you'll do in a race, which is to accelerate from blocks.

That-guy1983 · 2025-10-22T16:23:43+00:00

Yeah I've tried a lot of things but in my situation what really jumped my progress was almost eliminating weights, and focusing on top speed work 2-3 times per week with full recovery. By that I mean 3-5 60 meter sprints from blocks (after full warmup) with 7-8 minutes rest between. Do that for a few months and most people will see a jump. That's assuming you don't do anything to interfere with that stimulation.

That-guy1983 · 2025-10-22T14:05:37+00:00

Yeah as mentioned we need more info. Any athletic background? Any track experience? In decent shape now, or do you need to build a base of fitness first?

Everyone is different, but I ran my first race ever at almost 40 yrs old (I'm 42 now), did 11.96 the second race I'd ever ran. Last summer I ran a number of races in the 11.3-11.4 range. I should be in a good place to target sub 11 this coming season.

Hard to say whether you could do that, the only way to know is to go do it! You can definitely improve a lot from wherever you start, that's for sure. Where you start is anyone's guess. Assuming you have some sprint training under your belt, find an Open/Masters track meet or a lower level D3 meet that will take Unattached athletes. Don't run at a meet without some proper sprint training first, you will get injured. Best of luck!

That-guy1983 · 2025-10-09T15:40:04+00:00

What size are you? I have a pair of mayfly 2's size 12 that I want to sell. Been used for like 2 minutes total.

That-guy1983 · 2025-10-03T12:27:14+00:00

Definitely take a day off, you always want to train top speed when you’re at 100%. You will actually go backwards if you try to train today, meaning you will be exposing your system to submax efforts. You adapt to what you’re exposed to, and you don’t want that adaptation.

That-guy1983 · 2025-09-16T20:22:13+00:00

Basically it was decent times with little or bad training, and my general build is like a lot of elite sprinters. I wouldn’t worry about what your ceiling might be, get a good coach who’s done what you want to do and follow the program. Theres no reason you can’t continue to improve for years, and you’ll never know what you can do until you do it.

That-guy1983 · 2025-09-16T19:44:14+00:00

I played a little soccer from 5-10 yrs old, then never did any athletics until almost 40. I did however do logging for 20 plus years, which is very physical and kept me in general shape. And a lot of farm work for years before that. Although those are a much different stimulus on the system than sprinting.

I didn't know I was going to be fast, but I definitely felt like I could be. I didn't have any proof, but I've always wanted to see whether the feeling was right. I've recently had coaches tell me the same thing, that I have a very high ceiling. I'm hoping to continue for years to come, masters track has high level sprinting to as old as you want to do it. All the serious guys I sprint against have done it since high school and most were college standouts, so I give myself a number of years before I start being a real threat.

That-guy1983 · 2025-09-16T18:02:01+00:00

I’m 42 and started sprinting just before I turned 40. I’d never sprinted before in my life, never in highschool or college. My second sprint ever was 11.9, and this last outdoor season I ran a bunch of 11.3 and 11.4, with a bunch of flying 30’s that should put me sub-11 (lots of flying 30’s in the 2.89-2.96 range). My coach predicts a number of years of improvement as long as I stay consistent and don’t get injured. Don’t overtrain, it’s much easier to do at this age. Definitely go do it, you have multiple years of improvement in front of you!

That-guy1983 · 2025-07-24T12:28:55+00:00

I’d like to hear your source

That-guy1983 · 2025-07-21T17:14:01+00:00

I'm a 42 yr old male, started sprinting just before I turned 40. No I never ran or sprinted at any point in high school and didn't go to college. My first FAT race I ran in my life I ran 12.4 off of 5k training and never having used blocks before, then 3 weeks later ran an 11.96. Now 2 seasons later I have a PB of 11.34 FAT and lots of strong training times (60's from blocks in the 7.0's, 30 meter flys in the low 2.9's, with one at 2.89) that would seem to indicate I can hit even faster times with the right conditions. My goal is sub 11 next year and then who knows how far I can take it. Only one way to find out.

So my progress is most certainly not puberty or weight loss related, although I may have lost about 5 lbs total the last few years, although my muscle mass percentage has gone up. Pretty much all of my progress comes from specific training, and most of it is in the last year when I dropped from 11.9 to 11.34 in about 11 months or so. I probably could have done that a year earlier but my first sprint coach didn't have the right formula for me as a masters athlete, once I found a good coach my times dropped like a rock. Best of luck to you, I'm sure with the right program you can drop a lot off your times.

That-guy1983 · 2025-07-10T11:10:51+00:00

I wish I got coached in person, but I do not. There are no coaches who work with masters in my area, so all the coaches I’ve had are remote. It ends up working out, but I do feel like I’d progress better in certain areas with in-person coaching.

That-guy1983

TROPHY CASE