Just come to this thread. Some good points about the training program but sprint_coach I noticed you said: “After about 100m - as he accelerated into the straight - he went up in the air…” If your athlete truly did attempt an acceleration this might have been the cause.
Charlie one wrote: “Attempts to increase the pace or change the stride pattern on the edge of the turn are the reason for the vast majority of injuries in the 200m.”
Just accelerating for a given distance then staying as relaxed as possible is, IMO, the best advice.
Thank you VERY much for this input, ONTHEBALL. The acceleration could be the cause - and I never thought of it. I’ll work on that.
My athlete went to the gym this afternoon - back to his positive, enthusiastic attitude! Maybe the injury was for his own good … one does not appreciate the simple things in life (like running!) - until you can’t do it.
95% is hard for us to determine…
on any given day how close to a pr is 100%… if you know what I mean , and how does the athlete/coach nail down exactly or close to 95% of pr… or is it 95% of max effort?
so… to me a % of pr within 5 points, or even within 5 of a percieved max effort is hard to nail down given only a couple of reps.
yeah I know, but how do you establish a pr… say you ran a certain pr 6 months ago which is your reference point? or do you have a sliding scale on say, 95% of your "current " max effort (say it is less than your pr at last season’s comp peak period?
I would keep it at 95% of your current Max. Its like lifting wts, if your max squat was 405 last year and currently its 385 and you try to get you athlete to do 95% of 405 which is 396, he won’t be able to do it! Secondly he would injure himself! Although its pretty hard to do that on a track, the runner after noticing that he isn’t close to his pb might start to fight instead of flight more which will further decrease his times. This one reason why Charlie doesn’t tell his athletes to go out and run pb’s! Or at least that’s my understanding of Charlie’s protocols. You get your athletes current pb time and then take 95% of that time!
I agree with Supervenomsuperman about the 95% - calculate times on present PB’s.
How to describe 95% to an athlete? Somewhere (either in one of Charlie’s books or on the Forum) I have read the following: Tell your athlete to run fast, but NOT at full pace … the athlete has to FEEL that his effort is very fast, ALMOST at 100%, but there IS something more to give.
Another update, for those interested: My athlete will start training on the track tomorrow, on a proper programme! But I have to add - I will be careful at first … no speedwork, a lot of Tempo-work. This will suit the 400m, I’m sure. And this only two weeks after the hamstring injury. I am SO pleased - the rehab went well.
I am still trying to figure out what the reason for the injury was. Another possibility - small dosis of creatine in the supplements???
thanks for the update and inquiry SprintCoach,
2 weeks… wow. I will be watching your progress.
We couldn’t get pool work, and we are doing a simple daily protocol of :
-heat, stretch, leg curls, leg lifts, some pushups, - ice.
In a couple days we will look to start jogging. When we can jog 15 min. w/out pain, possibly within a week, we will start short tempo at 50%. If pain free, we move to 60% next training session, and move up. It will be gradual.
Practice meets start in 2 weeks.
IMNO (novice opinion) I think he will be ready to start racing no sooner than 3 weeks from now; maybe 4.
He will have missed a couple of practice meet weeks - so what. If anything is to be gained it will be a good rest this last week and the next.
My feeling about the cause of Joe’s injury after reading and researching more practical experience, is that I was not vigilant and experienced enough to gauge his fatigue (muscle and neuro) and tone.
After the fact research tells me that I would have been eagle-eye to his tone and fatigue after a particularly STUPID (on the part of his coach) workout; speed endurance reps with 1 min. (!!!) recoveries.
I did get him to do a mile tempo flush run the next day (an off day), but I didnt do a massage, which I could have, and I didnt prep him for working with a knuckle head coach the next practice day (wed. when he pulled hammy late in session of 60m block start speed work.)
In fact I told him to go all out as he was getting sufficient (self administered) recoveries.
The assistant coach is going to take up his initial comeback with light jogging come monday or wed. which will mark 2 weeks since injury. He is older and wiser, but unfortunately is not the sprint coach.
I’m sure he will agree with me when I prep Joe for the “from here on in” lecture I will give him this weekend:
Never do speed work without capacity for quality (sufficient recovery).
No matter what coach outlines for the session, stay at 90-100% for speed, get sufficient recovery, or go slower than 75% if not recovered. (survive gung ho workouts).
Learn to run at 90-95% when advisable
(hold back a little) with quality.
Hey I have been thinking about that in last month or so. I have been following a progression of teaching Joe to go through his acceleration gears in first 40m of speed endurance runs (300, 200, 150) from 400m start line and 200m start line. Just like short speed accel work. Go through the gears, get max V and then hold form for the extended distances; with actual 400 and 200 and 100 races in mind.
Then I remembered other coaches saying that a 400 should be run like this: go hard on the first turn, relax and hold good speed on back, then re-accel and attack the next turn, hold form on last 100.
Then I vaguely remember someone saying about 200, attack the curves, sling-shot out into second 100.
I just got this from Clyde Hart’s thing;
“The ideal race pattern will be one of smooth deceleration if the runners have dispersed their energies properly, with as little tightening up at the finish as possible. The 400 meter runners should try to cover the first 50 meters at near top speed. At this point they should relax the actions of the upper body while still trying to maintain their leg speed. Their thoughts should be those of trying to settle into the
rhythm of the race and to get a feel for their competition. They should also begin thinking about the next big effort they will make, which will be at the 200 meter mark. They should be trained and conditioned to know that at this point in their race plan, they will make a determined effort to increase the actions of their arms and to begin driving and lifting their knees, trying to resume more of a sprinting action. The runners who learn to work this turn from the 200 to the 300 meter mark will usually find themselves in good position to win the race. It is a controlled pickup, one that should allow the 400 meter runner to come off the final curve even or ahead of their opponents.”
sorry, I know this is probably for another thread category other than injury, but it just sums up relative info re: CF and stride pattern changes… he is right.