Daughter would like her first 100m/200m of 2012 critiqued

Training/Competition Videos Video Analysis
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Hello,

My daughter last Saturday (March 17) ran her first 100m and 200m sprints for the 2012 track season.

The 100m (she is wearing light blue, lane #5) was a JV race, so she was just trying to run fast.

The 200m (she is wearing light blue, lane #7) race she loved as she got to race with a 12th grader who is the fastest girl in this half of the State.

My daughter is 14 and a 9th grader…she is VERY excited about High School track to say the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vnzm5XyCjYM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LYaXEUJu5zA

We both would appreciate suggestions and anything that could help her form and other guidance.

Thank you

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Given her age and strength form is not too bad. Like most youngsters the leg cycles a little bit too much behind the body. At first ground contact you’d like to see the knee of the swing leg next to the knee of the support. Now it’s a little bit too late.

At her age I would advise her to get the most out of the sport by doing all the explosive events: hurdling, jumping, throwing. Or combine it with other sport, for example gymnastics. Get a good all round coordination and avoid early specialisation.

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I thought the runs looked very good. What were the times? Just keep progressing her speed and strength; she has plenty of time to improve. Don’t rush it, let it happen, things are looking good.

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Hi Rich,

Great to see your daughter back for another season, she looked pretty darn good! She sounds like a really keen athlete, and she is lucky to have such a supportive dad. What a great shared interest for a father and daughter to have.

Echoing what martijn and python have said, I would say if she’s on a decent general developmental program that has keeps an eye on continuing to build and carefully maintain general fitness right through the season (with the requisite speedwork of course), she should continue to progress.

A minor comment on form: I am curious about the arm cues that her coach uses. Do they say “drive the elbow back” by any chance? The reason I say this is that her arms seem just slightly locked at 90 degrees on the downswing at times…they could open up a bit more perhaps, but other than that, she looks very good and should just continue on the way she is going.

Keep us posted on her progress this season, I always look forward to your posts.

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Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I wrote this all down and will bring it up to her sprint coach and see what he thinks.
Her times were not all that quick, as these where her first 100/200m of the season. The 100m was 13.66 and the 200m was 27.30.

She is in the Philippines with her mother (dropped them off at the Airport yesterday) now for 10 days visiting family. The Sprint coach gave her a workout that is more 400m orientated, as that is her favorite race. She is hoping to be able to run the 400m sometime when she gets back.

I never seen a kid love something as much as she loves track…that is all she talks about all year long.

She runs XC from July to early December, after Summer AAU/USATF track… I know, I know, not good for a sprinter…but, she is a good long distance runner too.
She made the Varsity girls XC team last Fall, which is not common for a Freshman at this school. Her girls team went to State and placed 5th. They were hoping for higher, as they won Districts/Regionals and the previous year both the Girls and Boys team took 1st at State.
There are scholarships involved if she runs both XC and track, so that is part of it too…she loves track much, much more, but she is very highly competitive and just plain loves to run.
What she puts herself through to run just amazes me, as I have posted before, she has breathing issues, Excercise Induced “Vocal chord Dysfunction” with “Hyperventalation Disorder” with Stridor, which means a loud, whistling obstruction sound from the throat.

http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com/

Video:

http://fauquierent.blogspot.com/2011/04/video-of-exercise-induced-vocal-cord.html

When she starts running her vocal chords start to close. The further she runs, the smaller the opening in her throut is for air to pass, which leads to the hyperventalation disorder. It starts really showing up beyond the 200m, and about half-way through a 5K XC run, her vocal chord opening is much smaller…
The Asthma/Allergy Doctor is amazed she can run 200m, let alone 5K. I have pictures of her vocal chords starting to close after only running 4 30’ “lines” that the doctor had her do, and then quickly put a “scope” down her sinus…amazing to see the “V” of her vocal chords close.

Many people have Vocal Chord Dysfunction, but are mistakenly diagnosed with Asthma…that is what happened to my daughter, and when it didn’t seem to get better during times when it should have, I took her to the specialist. It was quite a relief to find out she did not have Asthma!

She is re-learning how to breath, and very slowly getting better. She never breathed from her “diaghram” and only breathed very very short, shallow breaths, about 5 breaths to every one of mine.
Again, the doctor is perplexed how she could run XC…I guess sheer determination, as she never remembers the finish of a race, she collapses at the finish, hyperventilates, and slowly recovers…then she is fine. Doctors say it must be the most unpleasant thing to go through, the feeling of not being able to breath, but it won’t hurt her as long as she wants to continue.
She is very excited to see how improved her running will be in about a year after she “should” be cured from her breathing issues.

Again, thank you so much for your help!

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Duplicate post

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Very impressive story. Sure the XC won’t necessarily help her on the track, but if she enjoys it, that is what matters. What were her 100/200 times from last year? Just keep progressing things as her body allows and no faster. She/you may feel pressure to accelerate training as she has competing sports and cannot dedicate all her time to one distance type. But try to resist this urge and just take things as her body allows. Keep us updated, very interesting and motivating.

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Great stuff Rich, thanks for sharing !! I think your daughter is talented. For her age, she has really good technique too. She’ll only get better and better.
Keep us posted =)

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Thanks for the supportive posts and help.

My daughters PR in the 8th grade for 100m was 13.49 and for the 200m was 27.99 (automatic times) at the City Middle School Championship track meet.
Her performance last year was not as good as she would have liked, as her sprinting was compromised by running the 800m in the Hershey meet, as she had never competed in the “Hershey Track & Field” program before, and wanted to, as this was her last chance.
She was turning 14 in the Summer, which was the upper age limit for the Hershey Meet. She felt she had the best chance competing in the 800m, even though she only ran it once in the 6th grade.
She won 1st place at the Tacoma/Thurston County race, which I included a video, as even though not the fastest 800m ran, her stategy and ability to sprint made for a great finish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYzn-4jO3Go&feature=player_detailpage

This qualified her to run in the State Hershy race. But, at the last 200m of the State Hershey race, when she started her “kick”, just as she had done in the previous meet, she got leg cramps and 3 runners were able to pass her before she made it to the finish… she did very well to make 5th place considering. The girl my daughter passed at the end of the 1st race in Tacoma, passed my daughter to get 2nd.

Her PR times for 7th grade were 100m @13.52 and 200m @ 27.10 (automatic times).

She should do well this year and at the very least, she will have lots of fun.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYzn-...yer_detailpage

Whoo! Way to chop that girl down in the last 100 metres! Very savvy racing!

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that was awesome! interesting that no one came to congratulate her.

I couldn’t help but notice how relaxed she was through the whole race. even before the start she stood out as being very calm and still while everyone else was jumping about. very impressive…

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Actually, after the race, in the stands my daughter talked to the girl that she passed at the end of the race, as coincidently, I was only sitting about 15 feet away from the girls mother, who you can hear in the video at about the last 150m, panicly say “Oh my God…” when she realized that my daughter was speeding up…then a few seconds later she was shouting at her daughter “you got to kick…go go go”

My daughter tries to “get in a zone” mentally before she runs.
Which most of the time seems good, but also she says alot of the time from the moment she stands behind her blocks, to when the gun fires, her mind is a blank…don’t know if that is good or not?

She says sometimes, she tries to remember if she changed anything or if she was supposed to do anything different while getting into the blocks, but she says her mind is “blank”.

Is this from sometimes being a little nervous?

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13.49 FAT is good for grade 8. I coached a girl who went from 13.63 in grade 8 to 13.10 in grade 9. Regarding the mind going blank - I think it varies by athlete and it’s not something I’d be concerned about. The girl who ran 13.10 (and .11, and .19, and .21) last year can always remember what happens in her races, including specific breakdowns during each portion, with something like: “the girl beside me took off so fast out of the blocks and I panicked and was tried to hard to catch her before running good after that and i stayed relaxed at the end and i remembered to lean this time and …”

On the other side, I coach a strong middle distance runner whose mind blanks during races and doesn’t remember much except for how tired she was. :slight_smile:

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going blank is better than thinking too much which slows you down and causes you to choke under pressure…

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Thank you, that makes sense and is good to know.