How Training Cycles Help You Get Faster at Sprinting

Want to get faster at sprinting?

Most sprinters train like this:

• Train at 100% effort every session

• Skip structured recovery and do bonus training sessions

• Hope for the best

Sounds like a solid plan, right? Sprint harder, sprint more, get faster.

Wrong!

That’s because elite sprinters don’t just train hard—they train smart.

And that’s why they are able to improve by an average of 8% between ages 18–22.

Because they follow a periodized training plan—one that includes macro, meso, and microcycles to peak at the right time.

And that’s exactly what you’ll learn in this guide.

Specifically, I’ll show you:

• What training cycles are (and why they matter for sprinters)

• How to structure your sprint training for maximum performance

• The common training mistakes that are actually making you slower

By the end, you’ll know exactly how to structure your sprint training plan to improve your acceleration, max velocity, and PRs—without burning out.

I encourage you to read through each section carefully, as there are crucial details that, if overlooked, could derail your entire plan.

Let’s jump in!

What Are Training Cycles (and Why They Matter for Sprinting)

Getting faster isn’t about grinding every day—it’s about doing what needs to be done. Stimulus, adaptation. Training, recovery.

And the best way to structure this? Periodization.

(If you’re new to periodization, check out my Complete Guide to Sprint Periodization to learn more about why it’s the foundation of elite sprint training.)

To my best knowledge, a structured sprint program develops three key components:

• Work capacity – How much work you can generate in a single sprint.

• Nervous system – The driver behind strength, frequency, and coordination of muscle twitches.

• Tendon resilience – The ability to store and release energy efficiently without breaking down.

To maximize these, your training must be structured into phases, each targeting a specific adaptation at the right time.

The Three Levels of Training Cycles

#1: Macrocycle – The full-season plan (indoor and/or outdoor). This is your long-term blueprint, ensuring steady progress and peak performance when it matters most.

#2: Mesocycle – Monthly training blocks. These focus on specific performance goals like acceleration, max velocity, or speed endurance.

#3: Microcycle – Your weekly structure. This is where training, recovery, and adjustments happen on a day-to-day basis.

Each of these levels goes deeper, ensuring continuous improvement without overtraining.

Let’s break down the macro first shall we?

The Macrocycle: Building Your Sprinting Foundation

Early Preparation – Quick Wake Up from the Off-Season Slumber + Work Capacity (Building the Base)

After two weeks of doing absolutely nothing (or just low-intensity recovery), it’s time to get your body back into motion.

This is where aerobic activity comes in—yes, aerobic for sprinters.

This is your chance to do:

• Hiking

• Jogging

• Swimming

• Cycling…

Anything that’s low-intensity to get your lazy body moving again without overloading it. Think of it as a soft wake-up, like a kiss on the forehead.

The goal is to gently transition your body into the next phase without causing any stress.

After a week or two we get down to business.

Work capacity and tendon health is the foundation you’ll build everything else on. A bit of VO2 max, lactic acid tolerance, and finally, the alactic system.

You won’t need as much VO2 max training as you’ll need work on the alactic system, so you’ll balance that ratio as you need.

Useless Tip: Smoking in this period makes things much harder, who would have thought!

And for the tendons, long isometric holds are key in this phase—target your main muscle groups, as well as rotators, and do other accessories. You want them strong and ready for the explosive stuff later.

We’re building boring foundations for a skyscraper, not a cottage, so don’t slack. Lay the groundwork, or else you’ll regret it later.

Later in the article, I’ll give you some training examples to put this into practice.

Mid Preparation – Strength & Motor Cortex Firing

In the mid-prep phase, it’s time to get intense.

We’re going to hit the hard strength work and focus on motor cortex firing. This is where you’ll fire up those neural pathways for maximum intensity.

We need to make your motor cortex fire stronger signals.

This is where your strength goes up significantly, and the alactic system stays on track.

Max isometrics have their place here, not just for your nervous system but for strengthening the tendons even more.

These will support you throughout the season. Build the strength here.

Late Preparation – Transform into Explosive Power

Now we take that foundation and turn it into something that moves.

This is the phase where you focus on explosiveness and elasticity. This is where the real sprinting power starts to show up. If you’re weightlifting, this is where you’ll focus on explosive lifts. If you are a big fan of calisthenics, I recommend Convict Conditioning 3 for explosive bodyweight exercises.

Heavy plyometrics come in now, too. You’ve already built a steel structure in your body—now it’s time to turn it into a functional, powerful machine.

During this phase, you’ll likely see a gradual drop in times as you transition from building strength to focusing on speed and power.

Expect your acceleration and top speed to get closer to your PRs from the previous season, and in some cases, you can even smash them—even without tapering.

That idea is electrifying, even for me as I write this!

Mid-Season – Maintenance, Technique, and Tapering

Now we’re deep into the season, and it’s time to strategize your approach. This is where your focus shifts from heavy training to ensuring your body is primed and ready for competition.

Your primary goals are twofold: maintaining your work capacity and fine-tuning your technique. The key here is specificity—you’ll be drilling the exact movements you’ll need in your event, whether it’s sprinting, hurdles, or whatever your specialty is. For me, it’s hurdles.

You’re not just training your body; you’re training your brain to perform these movements effortlessly and instinctively.

The more you practice your event-specific drills, the more subconscious those movements become. You’re paving neural pathways so that when you step onto the track, it feels like walking from your front door to the store—automatic, smooth, and natural.

This is the stage where you’re conditioning your motor cortex to fire the exact way you need it to under the pressure of competition.

These drills are not just for technique—they’re essential for building that muscle memory so that you can react faster and more efficiently when it matters. Every time you practice, you’re fine-tuning your movements and training your brain to think less, allowing your body to react on instinct.

And while you’re dialing in your technique, don’t forget about maintenance—keeping your fitness intact.

But be strategic about tapering: only taper before big meets, not every single one. Tapering too often can quickly eat away at your fitness and work capacity, leaving you flat when the most important competitions come around.

Use this time wisely to rest when needed, but don’t get too comfortable. Your PR needs you!

After Season – Recovery, Rest, and Reset

You made it through the season—now it’s time to rest.

Don’t fall into the trap of running “just one more race, and then I’ll rest...” That’s how you end up running yourself into the ground.

It’s never worth gambling with your health to get one more shot on the PR. Trust me, the rest is what’ll set you up for your next big season.

Take 2 weeks off and do absolutely nothing intense.

Feel free to do low-intensity stuff if you feel like it, but only if you’re in the mood. This is the only time all year when you can do whatever the hell you want. 

That’s it. You’ve earned it champ.

…Then start with the early prep again.

Mesocycle – Structuring Focused Training Phases with Deloads

Now we enter the meat of the training cycle. The mesocycle is your medium-term focus, typically lasting 4-8 weeks, where you train specific qualities like strength, endurance, and sprinting power.

But there's something crucial to keep in mind here: deloading.

For me, I use a simple but effective 3-week-on, 1-week-off deload system.

After three weeks of pushing hard, I dial it back during the fourth week. This is when I’ll reduce both the intensity and the volume of my training.

I still train, but at 80% intensity and 80% volume of normal. I might skip one of my harder workouts and swap it for something light, like sleep.

Yeah, sleep is the best I can do for my recovery and you should too!

Why do this? Because staying healthy is the most important thing you can do. After all, if you're not healthy, it doesn’t matter how hard you train—you're not going to make progress.

If you can only improve by around 8% each season, but if you’re injured or burned out, you can lose that progress just as fast. Getting back to your previous shape after illness or injury can be devastating and take far longer than you’d think.

A deload week might feel like a break, but it’s actually a critical recovery phase that allows your body to repair itself and maintain long-term peak performance.

Skipping this step and training too hard without proper recovery could be the very thing that derails your progress.

So don’t skip your deloads. They’re not a luxury—they’re a necessity for longevity in the sport!

Microcycle: How Your Weekly Structure Gets You Faster

In sprint training, the macrocycles dictate how you structure your microcycles.

Essentially, the macro goals you set for the season are broken down into specific weeks of work. The microcycle is the weekly plan that dictates what you do every day.

A key principle to keep in mind: you want to space out your high-intensity sessions—ideally, you’ll want at least 48 hours of rest between high-intensity days to allow proper recovery and avoid burnout.

Let’s break down how that works across different phases of your training:

Early Preparation Microcycles (Building Base Work Capacity)

Goal: Build a foundational level of strength and work capacity.

Sample Week:

• Strength Legs A (60% intensity): Squats, hip flexors, dorsiflexion.

• Strength Arms A (60% intensity): Dips, pull-ups, biceps.

• Pyramids (60% intensity): 120, 150, 200, 150, 120 for work capacity.

• Hill Runs (60% intensity): 60m x 6 hill sprints.

• Hike (10% intensity): Zadielska Dolina or any low-intensity hike.

• Strength Core A (60% intensity): Suitcase carry, rotations, extensions.

Sunday: Full day of rest.

Mid-Prep Microcycles (Intensifying Strength and Work Capacity)

Goal: Shift focus to improving strength and increasing the power of your alactic energy system.

Sample Week:

• Resisted Sprints (90% intensity): 40 kg x 20m (sprinting with resistance).

• Strength Arms A (60% intensity): Bench press, rows, shoulders.

• Strength Legs B (90% intensity): Deadlift, hamstrings, calves.

• Strength Core B (60% intensity): Raises, balance exercises.

• Alactic Work Capacity (100% intensity): 10s air bike sprints.

• Strength Arms B (60% intensity): Dips, pull-ups, biceps.

Sunday: Full day of rest.

Later Mid-Prep Microcycles (Focusing on Maximal Output)

Goal: Push your body to its maximal strength and explosiveness levels.

Sample Week:

• Resisted Sprints (100% intensity): 20 kg x 40m.

• Long Iso Legs (75% intensity): Block starts and top-speed holds.

• Max Iso Legs (100% intensity): Deadlifts, hamstrings, calves.

• Max Iso Core (100% intensity): Wheelbarrow holds, flag holds.

• Hurdles (75% intensity): 5-step hurdles (91cm).

• Max Iso Arms (100% intensity): Dips, pulldowns, rows, shoulders.

Sunday: Full day of rest.

Late-Prep Microcycles (Explosive Speed and Peak Performance)

Goal: Develop top-end speed, plyometric explosiveness, and fine-tune technique.

Sample Week:

• Hurdle Block Starts (100% intensity).

• Plyo + Explo A (100% intensity): Full-body explosive movements.

• Hurdle Drills (75% intensity): Specific technique work on hurdle technique.

• Top Speed Sprints (100% intensity): Max effort sprints.

• Rest Day: Full day of rest.

• Plyo + Explo L (100% intensity): Lower-body plyometric exercises.

Sunday: Full day of rest.

Tapering Example for Competition Week:

Let’s say Friday is your competition day. Here’s how I taper and make sure I am fresh for the meet:

• Sat: Rest.

• Sun: Rest.

• Mon: Hurdle Block Starts (95% intensity).

• Tue: Rest.

• Wed: Sprint Drills (60% intensity).

• Thu: Tonization (60% intensity): Bouncy movements on half squats or amortization drills with a loaded barbell.

• Fri: Ready. Set. Bang!

Two weeks of rest! You've made it champ!

Unlock Your Sprinting Potential with the Right Training System

So, you've now got the blueprint for sprinting success: structured training cycles, focusing on work capacity, explosive power, and effective recovery.

You've learned that building speed isn’t about just grinding day in and day out. It’s about training smart, strategically working your energy systems, and letting your body adapt in the right phases.

But here's the thing: if you’re not following a structured system with careful attention to macro, meso, and micro cycles, you’re likely leaving progress on the table. This is where most athletes fail—they either push too hard without adequate recovery or don't optimize their training phases for maximum results.

Want to make sure you avoid those mistakes and see real, consistent improvement?

Our sprint training program uses one of the most effective periodization systems out there—personalization. Coaches often forget to tailor their plans but here, we do things differently. 

So, whether you're aiming for a new PR or simply want to get faster, our periodization system will give you the structure, focus, and guidance you need to get there—without guessing.

Let’s make sure you get to your peak—faster.