I am still running the same time for the last 2 years in the 60m. 7.4x-7.5x. I just cant seem to break through to the 7 low area. I am training for the masters champs at the end of march. I look ok in video but I cant seem to put it together at the meets. I know I need work every where but I really struggle after 20m. My best 30m fly in training is 3.1. If you can spot anything feel free to critique. BTW dont mind my girls in the way they still think they can beat me in a race LOL…
this start looks to me to the best one, on most of the others you look to be getting a really high knee action but not much forward action. I wonder if your hands may be a tad too wide and you seem to hold it a long time in set at times your hips drop.
you’re not covering much ground on the starts because your legs cycle right out of the blocks. you need to keep your foot lower to the ground as you step through and push back, instead of bringing the foot up and over the knee. if you drive out like this you’ll stay down for longer and accelerate more efficiently.
also you could explode your arms back more explosively on the first few steps
That was the last run. The day I did this I switched my front foot to the right. Its the foot I normally jump with. I kind realized I do drop my hips in the set position. I was playing around with finding that sweet spot while in set. As soon as I figure it out I promise to stop moving
Cool thanks. I worked on keeping my feet low during the fall using a sled. It was working but the more I stopped using the sled the more I went back to cycling my feet at the start. I will try to go slower and work on form till its right!!! thanks for the help.
Your running form looks good.
What are doing as low intensity work?
Do you include hurdles walkovers? This would help to strengthen your ankles as well as any other exercises because there is too much flexion at stance. It seems to me that your ankle are relatively weak compared to the action around your knee and hips.
Are you using any double foot jumps (hurdle hops, box jumps, etc) or MB/SP throws? You could benefit of them for your starting blocks in order to get the proper spring and coordination out of the blocks.
No hurdle walkovers
No plyos of any kind
No explosive MB sessions
I guess I’ve been lazy about doing this…
I have a wieghted vest that I wanted to start using more often for wieghted drills session. My ankles and calves are very weak. I’ve sprained both (i used to play american football) and tore my right achillies… Do you think I should include some ankle/calf work? couldnt hurt right?
Also when you say too much flexion in the stance are you refering to the set position in the blocks?
It was pretty obvious to me that those area were lacking from the way you run out of the blocks.
Ankle work and weigth vest : you can do jumps on stairs with or without the vest, in stato-dynamic fashion, if it makes sense to you : you jump on both feet into the upper step and stabilise in a half squat on the ball of your feet, you can do this for 10 steps, how many sets depends on your body tolerance. This shouldn’t hurt and be in adequation with your injury history.
i don’t know what your weather conditions are like, but i think hill sprints would help you with your start and drive phase mechanics. short sprints on a steep hill would force you to keep your foot low and push back with it.
compare your start here with asafa powell’s. in your first three steps you can already see your heel kick your butt and cycle around your knee. asafa’s foot drives straight forward below the knee which puts in him position to push back on the track and move forward. you also need that exaggerated arm action to get complete extension off the back leg. his mechanics, along with his strength, allow him to hold his drive phase for so long and get to top speed later than the field. i think if you did a steep hill workout focusing on these things you will feel the difference when you get in the blocks.
I did the hills this fall and I did see a difference but for some reason the effects of the hills faded for me not sure why… Im in NY so I was thinking about maybe putting the sled/tire runs 1x /week just working on form and see how that works.
I was looking at that video I think I lack the flexiblity/ankle strength/mechanics and coordination to make it look that good!!! But I will work on this. I will be running this year but my real goal is to have all this right by outdoors2011.
