I have a quick question, would you change your
sprint mechanics ( leg cycling) if you were competing
at a venue where they have a Mondo surface?
I’m talking the Super X version of Mondo surface.
I sprinted on Mondo several times this year and I feel
I should force the frequency side of the equation while sprinting
on this type of surface.
What do you guys think?
I know what you put into the ground it should return but on Mondo I feel
“quick” & light w/ each step?
How do you guys feel on Mondo?
Quick, powerful, light or slower?
Definitely quick and light. In particular the initial acceleration is tremendous and so easy because it feels like the grip is so good and the ground so reactive/conductive. I would agree with leaning towards letting the frecuency take over initially, no reason to aim towards long stride length when you feel you’re advancinge effortlessly and feeling light and economic while quickly accelerating. What have others noticed about Mondo surfaces?
On a side note the National High Performance Center here finally will be putting a new track in, the previous one, a beautiful Mondo track is now destroyed (because of no control over spikes used in it and of who uses it). My fingers are crossed for a new Mondo track, but seeing that all the new tracks in the country are soft training tracks (those where they spray little rubber pieces all over as the top layer) … I won’t be surprised if we get a slow track to replace the Mondo .
You have a lot more margin for error on a hard surface like Mondo vs a softer surface like Rekortan. With the soft surface you must relax totally and let the frequency of the stride match the return frequency of the surface, otherwise you’ll lift off the track before all the available energy you put into the surface is returned to you. You still must be relaxed on Mondo but you can use more frequency as the energy is returned much sooner. Hope this makes sense.
Go to mondoworldwide.com for a picture. All mondo tracks look like that or similar, with that surface looking like a net was imprinted over it. The slower tracks, at least here in Argentina are those with rubber granules pasted/spread out over the synthetic surface.
Most of the people I know like christmas trees better, I like needles though. I feel like I get the best grip and can quickly get out to my next step. With trees I feel like I get stuck in each step … they’re also a good way to destroy a mondo track.
Damn I thought it was the opposite. I was thinking the xmas tree’s would do better at compressing the mondo and returning more energy since the points of them are flat. The needles seem like they would just pierce the surface and the mondo would absorb alot of the energy. Is Mondo really is that hard?
The Chevron type surfaces are softer so they are more compressed in the initial accel section of the race and less so later. the idea of the "christmas tree shape was to go in only as far as necessary at any stage. there’s quite an assortment of ideas on this. One is a combo spike/element, which goes straight and tapers sharply to a point at the bottom. That way you get the benefit described by Treble without the risk of slip posed by a smooth surface like mondo.
You WILL run a slower time on Rekortan than Mondo anyway but you will run slower still if you don’t roll with the return of the track surface and try to fight it.
Sorry to do this but this is from an email I received.
from Mondo Pacific (Joe Hoekstra) on spikes attached. Stick to a maximum of 7mm for all events, either pyramid or Christmas Tree and you’ll minimize damage to track, but still cover all events needs. It is essential that all start-block spikes be checked at 12mm only. Shorter will slip, longer will dig into bitumen under the 13mm Mondo. Best to specify that only stadium-supplied start blocks are allowed on the track – at all times, irrespective. Needle spikes are a big no-no – a disadvantage to the athletes as they are grabbed by the Mondo’s composition and under honey-comb (and also by Rekortan, Spurtan etc.) and will also go right through to the bitumen underlay on the thinner poured tracks.
I think what he meant was: Can you consciously run with higher frequency on a Mondo track without negatively effecting your speed? In other words, wouldn’t it be better to just try and run with the same proper and relaxed form on every surface?
I found this to be one of the benefits of running on grass too. It’s obviously softer and has imperfections and bobbles in the surface, no matter how perfectly manicured the field. This forces you to relax and just go with it, otherwise you will lock up if you fight the ground. The grass forces you to run relaxed. When I go back to the track surface, the relaxation is built in and it feels like I’m floating.
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