Gay struggling with fitness
Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 10:23 AM
Source: BigPond Sport
Sprinter Tyson Gay has admitted his body is beginning to struggle to cope with the demands elite competition is placing upon it.
The American has been second to Usain Bolt in the last three seasons in their battle for the title of world’s fastest man.
And the 28-year-old admits the constant competition is beginning to take its toll.
“I’ve been seeing some doctors to see how things are and to test where I’m at so I have no expectations (for the upcoming season) yet,” Gay said.
“The pressure to always run fast puts a lot of pressure on the body to deal with and to recover and do it again and again.”
“After running so fast last year, it took so much longer to recover. It’s no longer a case of ice baths and massage. The body needs to just rest so I can’t race that often.”
He has run the 100-metre sprint in 9.69 seconds, which is still slower than Bolt’s 2009 world record of 9.58 seconds, set in Berlin.
Gay believes he has not been at peak fitness since 2007 and said he wished he could face-off against Bolt more often.
“I never duck any competition, especially Bolt. People never know what’s going on behind the scenes with injuries etcetera and I would never say he’s ducking me,” he said.
“It’s a good thing to race him and I wish I were healthy more often as we bring out the best in each other.”
Gay ran a time of 9.91 seconds in the 100 metres at the Great City Games in Manchester last weekend, a result he said was comparable with everyone in the world at the moment.
He now faces the decision of whether to risk a long-term hip injury or continue his build up to the 2012 London Olympics.
Gay and Bolt, 24, are likely to go head-to-head at the World Championships in South Korea in August and the American said the constant comparisons to his younger rival did not faze him.
“It’s OK because if it wasn’t mentioned, then I’m not doing something right and only the pure joy of track and field gets me out of bed.”
Tyson Gay has been told by a specialist that he may be “running too fast for his body” after his latest injury setback. The second fastest man in history has withdrawn from tomorrow’s New York Diamond League meet because of a hamstring problem.
Gay sustained his latest injury in running a world-record 19.41sec on a straight 200 metres track in Manchester last month. He says he can break Usain Bolt’s 100m mark by going under 9.5sec, despite troublesome advice from a nutritional specialist whom he is due to see this week.
“He thinks I’m running too fast for my body,” Gay said. "It’s one of those things that there is no reason, at 27 years old, that I should be getting injured every year – my groin, my knees, my hamstring, my back. It’s something I could be deficient in and he wants to find out the problem, why my muscles can’t handle me running that fast, why my body is not letting it happen.
…
The former world champion says the fast time he ran in Manchester could have been a contributing factor.
“For me to run 19.4 in Manchester was a shock because I hadn’t done speed training, I hadn’t really done a lot. It could have shocked my body. I wasn’t expecting to run that fast at all. Right now the doctor has ordered me to do a lot of exercises to strengthen up the muscles in my back.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/11/tyson-gay-usain-bolt-sprinting
This article was from last year, very similar to what Kitkat posted from this year. Maybe he needs to change his training. Is he still coming into the Manchester race with no real speed work?
Running fast but lack of speed work could just mean that his CNS has not taken a battering lately. At the top level it’s all about managing load in terms of when to run fast and when to keep it chilled.
my question is- how and why would a person run such an event with no speedwork? and still run outstanding times??
Your question cannot be adequately answered within the scope and rules of this forum.
#2 i agree but let it be !
Could the answer be that he is maintaining his fitness from last season rather than trying to build on it?
“After running so fast last year, it took so much longer to recover. It’s no longer a case of ice baths and massage. The body needs to just rest so I can’t race that often.”
In my opinion, it takes a great amount of effort (much more then others) on Tysons part to run a 100/200 at world class times . Tyson is also always frantically running down people at the last 50m of the race. That said, over time, it’s very tiring and something has to give…
If I was Tyson, I would structure my training so I could end the race early at 30m.
carl lewis did all his life and burrell showed it in lausanne 95 with the same acceleration method…tyson needs to look at his training/set-up if hes getting consistant probs every year
You’re right, BUT Carl ran sub 10’s with ease. I can’t speak on Burrell.