Winning with Speed

Successful training strategies for the 100m Dash and

John Brumund-Smith
Head Boys Track & Field Coach
Lake Forest High School
[email protected]
Twitter @LFHStrack
Coaching Influences
• Chip Schneider
• UW-Eau Claire Head Men’s and Women’s Track & Field
Coach
• Anthony Holler
• Plainfield North High School Head Boys Track & Field
Coach
• Boo Schexnayder
• 2008 USA Olympic Jumps Coach
• Tony Veney
• Ventura Community College Head Coach
A. What is the easiest way to become a better
coach?
• GET BETTER ATHLETES!
• Speed is one of the easiest things to see in sports.
• Jumping is easy to see too.
• Go to the football, basketball, volleyball and soccer
games.
• Ask your athletes if they have any athletic friends.
Promote, recruit, attract
• Make the best athletes in the school WANT to be on
your team.
• Put signs/posters up in school advertising your sport (
e-mail me).
• Start traditions that people talk about (i.e.
Banana Relays).
• Get cool uniforms and team apparel.
• It’s the 21st century. Get a website. Post results, even
practice times.
B. Three Main Energy Systems
• Phosphate (ATP) –
anaerobic Anaerobic = without
• 3-7 second repeats oxygen
• Lactate (Glycolytic) –
anaerobic
• 10-90 second repeats
Aerobic = with
• Oxidative (Krebs cycle) – oxygen
aerobic
• Long, slow training (miles)
•
Phosphate (ATP) training
• 3-7 second repeats, full recovery (3-5 minutes)
• Two days a week, 95-100% effort
• Accelerations
• Block work
• Top speed (10m fly, 20m fly, 30m fly)
• 4x1 handoffs
• LJ/TJ run-throughs & starts to 100/110m Hurdles
Phosphate (ATP) training (continued)
• Speed is a poison.
• You can only take poison in small doses.
• You can build up a tolerance to poison.
• Start with 10m fly, increase 5m every 2-3 weeks.
• Don’t do top speed the day after a Lactate workout or
meet.
• Speed is a skill.
• Execution of proper running mechanics must be the
primary goal.
• “Big in front,” “Run tall,” “Cross the hips,” “Toe up, knee up,
heel up”
• If form breaks down, you’re either running too long or are
Phosphate (ATP) training (continued)
• THE BASE FOR SPEED IS SPEED!
• It is never too early to train for speed
• Miles do not translate into speed
• Must start low (~10m fly) before slowly building
• Speed grows like a tree
• “In shape” is a generally meaningless expression
• Don’t build a bigger engine (aerobic), build a bigger
battery (CNS)
Lactate (Glycolytic) training
• 10-60 seconds (90 seconds for elite athletes)
• Two days per week (meets count as Lactate) for the
last 8-10 weeks of the season. Intensive Tempo and
Body Weight Circuits can be done from Week One to
prepare for harder Lactate workouts. Use the
USATF charts.
• Body Weight Circuits – 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off
• Intensive Tempo – 6 x 150m @80% with 250m walk
(early season)
• Special Endurance – 3 x 185m @95% with full
Lactate (Glycolytic) training (continued)
• Purpose of Lactate training:
• Alter neural thresholds to operate more normally in the
presence of hydrogen ions.
• Get used to running while taxed.
• Increase rate of lactate clearance and lactate threshold.
• Body adapts (homeostasis) and also learns to deal with the
lactate.
• You may throw up from Lactate training.
• Throwing up is your body’s way of releasing toxins.
• Puking is not a measurement of effort. It is not desired.
C. Acceleration, Coordination, Variation
• Acceleration
• “Only two things matter in sprints: the drive phase and
max speed.”
Anthony
Holler
• Coordination
• “Deceleration is due to loss of coordination due to CNS
Tony Veney
fatigue.”
• Variation
Booespecially later
• “Insufficient diversity in exercise choice,
Schexnayder
in the training year, can create decreases in flexibility and
elasticity.”
Acceleration
• Start with this on Day One.
• Drive Phase is the first 10-25m of race (30 meters for
elites).
• Must learn acceleration before getting into the blocks!
• Start with a 2-point stance, then 3-point, then 4-point.
• Progression of position is much more important than
distance.
• Sprint start is the second-most violent act in sports!
• Acceleration is over once the shoulders are on top of
the hips.
Acceleration (continued)
• Don’t overemphasize quickness!
• Be “big and strong.” “Push, push, push.” Don’t “spin
your wheels.”
• Feet coming out of the blocks should stay low to the
ground.
• Coaching cue is “drag the toe,” but not to be taken
literally.
• Goal is to achieve an effective “Triple Extension”
(photo next page).
• Ground contact times are much longer than in later
Triple Extension
Coordination
• Are your sprinters falling apart at the end of races?
One of the main reasons could be loss of coordination
due to CNS fatigue.
• You see this mostly in their 2nd/3rd/4th event because they
are fried.
• Everything in training revolves around developing
coordination.
• Everything you do should mimic proper running form as
much as possible, even skipping, hurdle hops, etc. (think
about ground contact times as well).
Variation
• You can’t do the same thing every single day.
• Your warm-up should have a variety of different activities.
• Speed drills can be varied as well, as long as you teach
proficiency.
• Body weight circuits can be amazing if done correctly
• Great for injury prevention, posture, mobility, flexibility,
general strength, joint strength, elastic strength, even
recovery.
• Law of compatibility requires you to develop speed
without adding anything unrelated to speed.
• Don’t to endurance lifting the same day as your accel/top
D. Organizing Your Training
• Mesocycle A – Acceleration (General Prep)
• Drive phase, stride frequency, form drills, 10m Fly, Intensive Tempo (6x 150m
@80%, 3:00 recovery)
• In-place plyometrics (two feet), high rep lifting, “endurance” body weight
circuits
• Competitions are for experience and fun
• Mesocycle B – Power (Specific Prep)
• Block starts, handoffs, hills, 20m Fly, Lactate (3x185m @ 95%, 8:00
recovery)
• Moving plyometrics (bounds), maximal lifting, explosive body weight circuits
• Competitions get serious and can be used a workouts
• Mesocycle C – Max Velocity (Competition)
• Event-specific work (race modeling), 30m Fly, Lactate (2x150m @ 95%, full
recovery)
• Extended bounds, velocity-based lifting (lower weight), body weight circuits
fill in the gaps
General information on planning your
training
• Each macrocycle is 4-6 weeks long and ends with
a transition period or “recovery week.”
• Training is cut in half. Run your athletes in fewer
events.
• Intensity stays high. Volume is decreased.
• Do not plan a top speed day right after a Lactate
day.
• Day after Lactate should be recovery, non-taxing
technique or OFF
Terrible Sprint Practice
• Easy jog warm-up
• Team meeting (no enthusiasm, be extremely boring)
• Static stretching
• Long, slow, untimed workout with vague start/finish
lines
• Easy jog cool-down
• Go home (you’re strong enough)
E. Odd and ends
• Weight lifting should not make you gain weight.
• You only need to operate at 80% of your maximal strength
• Focus on functional strength vs. hypertrophy and maximal
strength
• If you are gaining weight, switch to single-limb lifts &
body weight circuits
• For the love of God, don’t over-race your athletes
• Running your best sprinter in the 100m prelims, 200m
prelims, 100m finals, 4x200m finals, 200m finals and
Long Jump in every meet is insane.
• Running a full load of events in a dual meet and an invite
Odd and ends (continued)
• Only three phases of 100m Dash: drive phase, top
speed, deceleration
• Ineffective drive phase leads to lower top speed and earlier
top speed, which means longer deceleration phase.
• Preparing for sprinting is parasympathetic. This
means it’s calm.
• Don’t treat your athletes getting into the blocks likes it’s
the opening kickoff of a playoff football game.
• A jogging cool-down is only necessary after a Lactate
workout.
F. Homework
• Vertical Force
• Don’t think you need to worry about jumping and
plyometrics for your sprinters? Look up Vertical Force.
Drill it. Prepare to maximize it.
• Do research on your sport
• freelapusa.com
• completetrackandfield.com
• speedendurance.com
• elitetrack.com
Vertical Force